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GENERAL KAMIO 

Commander-in-chief of tlie allied forces in the Kiaochow campaign. The first 
representative of the yellow race to hold command over a white force in battle 



THE FALL OF 
TSINGTAU 

with a study of 
japan's ambitio:n^s 

IN CHINA 
By JEFFERSON JONES 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

(CJbe ItlibetjnDe pvt^ CambriDoe 

1915 



^ 






COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY JEFFERSON JONES 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published October iqif 



NOV 1 1915 
©CI,A414358 



TO 
MY FATHER 



PREFACE 

One of the most remarkable changes to be 
wrought in Christendom by the greatest of 
wars will be found, not in Europe or in Europe's 
dependencies, but in the Far East. The des- 
tiny of as many Chinese as there are white hu- 
man beings in all Europe may be determined 
by the event of August, 1914. 

In the following pages I have attempted to 
record, as a disinterested observer, just what 
happened in the Orient from the time Europe 
took up arms and Japan, as to the policy she 
was to play, was left alone in Asia. That 
Japan's part in the seizure of the German pro- 
tectorate of Kiaochow was essentially a blind 
move in the making over of the Celestial King- 
dom into a dependency of Japan, cannot be 
doubted by any one who follows closely the 
moves of the Tokyo Government from the 
opening of the European war until China, after 
much harassing, acceded to the demands of 
Japan in May. 

vii 



PREFACE 

While China may nominally be in possession 
of many of its sovereign rights, the fact is, the 
power which controls Tokyo, for all intents 
and purposes, now controls the Government at 
Peking. Events yet to take place in the Far East 
may be depended on to prove this assertion. 

Be that as it may, China, we believe, will 
yet be a nation — independent, possessing sov- 
ereign rights, and governed by its own people. 
For the Chinaman remains a Chinaman. De- 
prive him of his country, isolate him from his 
people, and whether you find him in Caracas, 
Cape Town, or Halifax, he, and his generations 
that follow, will cling to the customs of his 
former country. The Chinese have not learned 
what patriotism is. They will in time. Then 
let a leader arise to join in one cause the four 
hundred and fifty millions of people of China; 
let patriotism once be grasped by them after 
repeated humiliations, such as have already 
been their lot in the last thirty years, and then 
one will recall the words of Napoleon, who said 
of China, " There lies a sleeping giant. Let him 
sleep; for when he moves he will move the 
world." 

viii 



PREFACE 

Under the Tokyo domination, China is bound 
to learn by experience what it is to possess in- 
dependent and sovereign rights; self-interest 
and the "squeeze" will become obsolescent 
words in the Chinese vocabulary, and gradu- 
ally the nation that produced the philosopher 
Confucius will take on a national conscious- 
ness from which a truly awakened China will 
spring, and above all a China which will com- 
mand from the world, not humiliating and 
jealous designs, but thorough-going respect. 

From my experience as a resident in Tokyo, 
I feel there is much in the following pages that 
will strike the supersensitive hearts of the Jap- 
anese as an indication of my unfriendliness to 
the Nippon Kingdom. This is an impression 
which I do not wish for, as I think the Japan- 
ese a people of great ability and a nation the 
most patriotic and one of the most efficient in 
the world. My objection lies only against the 
diplomacy practiced by Japan during and since 
the siege of Tsingtau, believing that it in no de- 
gree reflects credit on the glory of the Rising 
Sun. I base this statement upon the very 
words and actions of Japan herself; inconsist- 

ix 



PREFACE 

ent words and actions which require no special 
emphasis from an observer in the Far East. 

As I write this there has arisen opposition in 
the Diet of Japan, which, hke all oppositions 
where bureaucracy controls, does not carry 
much weight. It has denounced the Govern- 
ment's Chinese policy as one which has thrown 
a blight on the prestige of the nation. One of 
its radicals has publicly denounced Baron 
Kato, Foreign Minister, as a "traitor" to his 
Government. Cabinet Ministers have been 
called upon to explain certain actions of the 
Government in Japan, all of which has fur- 
ther brought out the inconsistency of Japan's 
diplomacy. 

For example, in the opposition's denuncia- 
tion of Japan's foreign policy, Mr. Motoda, 
ex-Minister of State, referred to the Govern- 
ment's rushing troops and a battleship to 
China during the May breach in the negotia- 
tions on the twenty-one demands, as a forceful 
*' threat" upon China. In reply to this. Baron 
Kato said that Japan was not increasing her 
troops in China as a threat, but the transaction 
was merely an exchange of guards. But as 



PREFACE 

there was no exchange in troops, — that is, the 
troops in China did not return to Japan after 
the new troops arrived, — Mr. Tokohami, ex- 
president of the Imperial Railroad Board, be- 
came more inquisitive and called upon Lieu- 
tenant-General Oka, the Minister of War, to 
explain before the Diet just why the Govern- 
ment had sent fresh troops into China. To 
this the Japanese Minister of War replied that 
it was because of disturbances, an answer 
wholly aside from Baron Kato's statement. But 
the opposition in the Diet pressed for the an- 
swer and questioned Minister Oka as to what 
disturbances in China the troops had been 
rushed to put down. At length Oka replied 
there had been no disturbances in China war- 
ranting the dispatch of fresh troops, but there 
had been a likelihood of friction. To every for- 
eigner in Japan who knows that the Japanese 
exchange of guards takes place annually in De- 
cember, this measure taken by Tokyo during 
the days in May, when Japan had warned 
China that "harsh" steps would be taken un- 
less the latter acceded to the demands then 
under negotiation in Peking, there is but one 

xi 



PREFACE 

answer, one reason, as to the wherefore of 
the hasty dispatch of troops into Asia by- 
Japan. 

Since that date Premier Okuma's Cabinet 
has resigned and Japan is torn internally with 
political strife. The Britisher in Shanghai, 
Peking, Manchester, and the other industrial 
centers of Great Britain, is disturbed at the 
actions of her ally in the Far East, and presses 
his Government in London for an understand- 
ing. The utmost calmness over the recent turn 
of events in the Far East is the only answer 
that is allowed to escape the House of Parlia- 
ment in London. Meanwhile those far-sighted 
rulers of Japan — the Elder Statesmen — 
seem to catch the future trend of events, for in 
July they were called together and considered 
the formation of an alliance with Russia, simi- 
lar to the Anglo-Japanese alliance. In all prob- 
ability definite action will be postponed until 
the treaty of peace in Europe or until the expi- 
ration of the British alliance. 

With Russia, long a seeker for the partition 
of China, allied with Japan, events of interna- 
tional importance seem destined to follow. 

xii 



PREFACE 

Will Russia's long-sought-after open-the-year- 
round Pacific port be a factor in the alliance? 
Will Taku, the port of Tientsin in northern 
China, come under Russian control with the 
consent of Tokyo, as rumor has it? In the mean 
time Japan's domination of China; the recon- 
sideration of the demands at Peking which 
Japan explicitly labeled in May as only 
"postponed"; the "open door" in China and 
its latch; the treaty of peace in Europe, which 
will also terminate the Kiaochow affair, and 
the proposed Russian alliance — upon the out- 
come of these questions does the follower of 
events in the Far East look with eagerness. 
As peace day by day nears its realization in 
Europe, the clouds gather toward Asia, and 
with them a silence suggestive of the lull be- 
fore the storm. 

In closing, I wish to express my thanks 
and appreciation to General Kamio, com- 
mander of the Allied forces at Tsingtau, to 
Lieutenant Colonel Haraguchi, and to Mr. 
Zumota, civil attache of the Japanese army, 
for their many courtesies extended to me 
while within the lines of their army; also to 

xiii 



PREFACE 

Mr. Post Wheeler, Mr. B. W. Fleisher, and 
Mr. Carl Crow, my grateful acknowledgment 
for their assistance in getting me to the war 
front at Kiaochow. 

J. J. 

Minneapolis, August, 1915. 



CONTENTS 

I. Japan's Dream of Domination ... 3 

II. Preliminabies to the Declaration of War 15 

in. The Violation of Neutrality .... 40 

IV. The Advance of the Japanese Army . . 49 

V. Closing in the Offensive 55 

VI. The Germans withdraw to Tsingtau . .61 

VII. The Beginning of the Siege .... 70 

Vin. The Fleet bombards the City .... 78 

IX. The Surrender 87 

X. After the City's Fall 94 

XI. Taking Possession 106 

Xn. Sanitation and Discipline Ill 

Xin. Observations 116 

XIV. Japan and America: Peace or War? . . 122 

XV. BusHiDO vs. Great Britain 141 

XVI. What Germany did in Kiaochow . . . 153 
XVII. Japan and her Game in China .... 170 
XVEII. The Passing of China as a Sovereign 

Nation 182 

XIX. The Restoration of Kiaochow . . . .208 
XX. The Enigma among Nations . . . .211 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

General Kamio, Commander-in-Chief of the Ai/- 

LiED Troops in the Kiaochow Campaign Frontispiece t^ 

General Yamashita, Chief of the Japanese Staff 32 ^ 

Japanese Infantrymen, showing the Equipment 

THAT makes up THE FiFTY-PoUND PaCK-SaCK . . 32 ^ 



r" 



Japanese Aeroplane preparing for a Flight over 

THE City of Tsingtau 50 1/ 

The Moltke Barracks at Tsingtau, showing the 
Work of Bombs from the Japanese Aeroplanes 50 v 

On the March through a Chinese Village in 
Kiaochow 58> 

Trophy Relics from the Franco-Prussian War, 
used in the defense of tsingtau . . . .58- 

Headquarters of the General Staff of the 
Japanese Forces at Tschang-tsun . . . .70 

Tsingtau as it appeared from the Japanese Staff 
Office at Tschang-tsun on the Morning of 
October 31 70 

Japanese Supply Column on the Way to the Rear 
Line on the Day of the Opening of the Siege 76 

Japanese Staff Officers viewing the Operations 
OF THE Siege from the Top of Prince Heinrich 
Berg 76 

Quarters of the Japanese Staff Officers during 
THE Closing Days of the Siege 82 

xvii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Two German Machine-Gtins on the Redoubt Walls 
of the tsingtau forts 82 

German Barbed-Wire Entanglements along the 
Redoubt Walls 90 

General Horiuchi on the Crest of Moltke Fort, 
which he and his Men captured .... 90 

The Foot of the Casemate Walls Thirty Min- 
utes after the Surrender 98 

The Moltke Barracks after the Surrender . . 98 

Japanese Buglers announcing the Triumphant 
Entry of the Japanese Troops into Tsingtau . 108 

Paying Respect to the Souls of the Japanese 
Dead 108 

A British Sentry at Tsingtau 142 

Chinese Coolies at Work on the Portable Army 
Railroad' 142 

Christ Church, one of the Few Buildings est 
Tsingtau to go Unscathed through the Siege 162 

General Barnardiston and the British Expedi- 
tionary Force passing in Review before Gen- 
eral Kamio on the Entry of the Allied Troops 
into Tsingtau. Showing the Prince Heinrich 
Hotel used as a Hospital 162 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

CHAPTER I 

japan's dream of domination 

The fall of Tsingtau and the wiping-out of 
the German colonies in Asia and in the Pacific, 
at any other time than as a side happening in 
the greatest of wars, would have attracted the 
attention of the whole world. With the rapid 
unfolding of events in Europe during early 
August, 1914, the nations focused attention on 
the continent, where the largeness of events 
had the effect of making minor the develop- 
ments in the Far East. The passing of Ger- 
many from Asia, however, is of great interna- 
tional importance, for from it there may be 
traced the future remapping of Asia and even 
the dissolution of China as a nation. 

Japan's participation in the European war 
and the events that followed may be divided 
into two parts; first, the "game" she played 
in going to war; second, the actions of her 
army in the overthrow of Germany in Asia. 

3 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

In discussing the first of these divisions, it is 
necessary to note the "sayings" of the Jap- 
anese statesmen in conjunction with the ac- 
tions that followed. In this way only will it be 
possible to reach an intelligent conclusion. It 
is not what we say we will do, but what we do, 
that really counts, and in no relation does this 
rule apply more positively than in diplomatic 
dealings. It will not be difficult to discover 
that Japan's part in the European war was not 
for the "peace of the Far East," as declared by 
her diplomats at the outset, but a move in her 
ambition to dominate China. 

The opening of hostilities between Japan 
and Germany in August, 1914, gave to Japan 
another opportunity to express in words just 
what were her motives in going to war, and it 
afforded opportunity also for the distribution 
in publications in America and Great Britain 
of frequent references to Japan's "love" for 
China. 

" We have always stood and will continue to 
stand for the territorial integrity" and "neu- 
trality" of China, writes Count Okuma, Pre- 
mier of Japan, at the opening of the war. By 

4 



JAPAN'S DREAM OF DOMINATION 

those unaquainted with Far Eastern politics, 
and especially those of Japan, this statement by 
a Japanese statesman may have been read 
with confidence. However, those familiar with 
Japanese affairs do not accept such statements 
as conclusive. 

Many times before has Japan vouched for 
the territorial integrity and neutrality of 
China. We have followed her actions only to 
find that the declarations of her statesmen 
were mere diplomatic nothings, their actions 
the exact opposite of their printed resolutions. 
For these reasons the official utterances of the 
Tokyo Government, on the opening of hostili- 
ties against Kiaochow, came and went without 
leaving sincere impression. 

"What is Japan's game.^" was the ques- 
tion passed among foreigners in the Japanese 
capital late in August, 1914. A step in the ac- 
quisition of China, was of course the answer, 
but many accepted Japan's statements, this 
time with more faith. With Great Britain as 
her ally, they said Japan would play with her 
cards on the table. Later events proved that 
Japan was playing her usual concealed game. 

5 — ^ 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

In all diplomatic tangles in the Far East for 
the last twenty years, China has paid the bill, 
whether she has been involved in the trans- 
action or not. All the Powers have gone on 
record as standing for the territorial integrity 
of China, and the preservation of China's neu- 
trality, but there has been but one Power, in 
its dealings with China, that has always backed 
guaranties by actions, not words — the United 
States. 

During the above period, while Japanese 
statesmen were addressing the world to the 
effect, as Baron Kato recently put it, that 
"Japan maintains to protect the peace of the 
Far East" and to "guard China from foreign 
encroachments," her Government has taken 
from China, first, Formosa; then the Liaotung 
Peninsula; next, Korea; and now — shall we 
say Shantung .f^ 

While Japan's statesmen have been pro- 
claiming that Japan is a friend to China, that 
she bears no ill-will against her, their hands 
have been slyly going into the pocket of China, 
and bit by bit has Celestial territory been 
taken. Is it to be wondered that during the 

6 



JAPAN'S DREAM OF DOMINATION 

recent war in the Far East the foreigner should 
look with distrust upon the actions of Japan? 

Sunday, August 23, the day of Japan's dec- 
laration of war upon Germany, found the 
Japanese fleets in a semicircle in the Yellow 
Sea, making preparations for running the 
blockade to the Bay of Kiaochow. Still farther 
north, off the Korean archipelago, Japanese 
transports had already sailed bearing three 
divisions of the Imperial regiments. The Jap- 
anese Minister at Peking at once started nego- 
tiations for fixing the war zone about Kiao- 
chow, Germany's protectorate in Shantung, 
Tsingtau being the capital. 

China proposed that the said zone should 
not extend farther westward than 20 li to the 
east of Wei-hsien, but Japan objected to this, 
and argued that such a boundary would be 
difficult to observe, as they might be con- 
sidered "to have violated China's neutrality" 
if a few of the Japanese troops wandered be- 
yond this boundary. China, however, de- 
clined to modify her proposal, and eventually 
Japan acceded to her wishes, adding that, 

7 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

while no troops would occupy the railroad be- 
yond the war zone, it might be found necessary 
to send officers to Wei-hsien for the purchase of 
supplies. Upon this understanding did Japan 
send her troops into China to drive Germany 
from Shantung. 

On September 2, news reached Peking that 
several Japanese transports had arrived at 
Lungkow, a port under Japanese influence in 
northern Shantung, and that troops were be- 
ing disembarked. Just why Lungkow, a port 
situated one hundred and fifty miles from 
Tsingtau and in a mountainous district, prac- 
tically devoid of roads suitable for military 
purposes, should have been the spot from 
which Japan first started war operations 
against Germany, remained a question that 
the Far East was unable to answer at the 
time, but events that followed after the dis- 
embarkation brought out the answer clearly. 

With the German Kiaochow garrison miles 
away, Japan began the long, tedious journey 
across Shantung, where heavy rains and floods 
made difficult the advance of troops. Arriving 
at Tsimo the middle of September, the troops 

8 



JAPAN'S DREAM OF DOMINATION 

advanced westward, and about September 20, 
Peking was suddenly startled by the report 
that the Japanese troops had occupied Wei- 
shien, and were advancing still farther west- 
ward along the Shantung railroad and beyond 
the defined war zone. 

By this unnecessary action Japan had vio- 
lated the neutrality of China. And, though 
England had joined in the European war be- 
cause Germany had violated the neutrality of 
Belgium, the British Government, for some 
reason unknown, did not think it necessary, 
when all the eyes of the world were upon Eu- 
rope, to protest loudly, to her ally in China, 
against the very thing that had seemingly so 
shocked her in Belgium. 

Western Shantung was now in disorder and 
confusion. With the Japanese troops quar- 
tered over this district there were many clashes 
between the native soldiery and the Japanese 
troops, and it required a steady hand in Peking 
to check a revolution or a war. 

And by this same action did Japan prove to 
the world that it was not " the maintenance of 
the peace of the Far East" that had brought 

9 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

her into the European struggle, but rather her 
political ambition. 
/' So serious was the situation in Shantung, the 
Council of State at Peking was hurriedly called 
together to discuss Japan's breach of faith. A 
resolution was unanimously passed calling for 
interpretation of the Government's policy con- 
cerning China's neutrality. In moving the 
interpretation Liang Chi Chao, a member of 
the Council, said : — 

"Since the outbreak of the European war, 
President Yuan Shi Kai has represented the 
nature of China's diplomatic relations and we 
sympathize with the Government's difficult 
situation, but the events and the rapid move- 
ments of the last twenty days leads to the be- 
lief that his reports are incomplete. Since the 
people are most indignant, the duty has de- 
volved upon us to ask the Government for an 
explanation. When Japan declared war upon 
Germany, we were forced to delineate a war 
zone. However, Japan has violated our neu- 
trality by occupying Wei-hsien and preparing 
to seize the railroad beyond the limits set 
forth. 

10 



JAPAN'S DREAM OF DOMINATION 

" I ask, are there any German soldiers west 
of Wei-hsien? The westward movement of the 
Japanese is nothing but a geographical move- 
ment? Judging from the actions of their army, 
Tsingtau is not their objective, but they are 
trying to occupy the whole of Shantung Prov- 
ince, which they will turn into another Man- 
churia. Britain cannot be excused for violating 
our neutrality, because its action is taken in 
concert with Japan. Britain has warred to up- 
hold the neutrality of weak nations, thus gain- 
ing our respect, but in China it has followed a 
different policy, using the Allies' forces to vio- 
late the neutrality of Shantung. The Japanese 
outrages are facts and the Government should 
not look upon the people's sufferings with 
indifference." 

*' Japan, by attacking Tsingtau," said Chen 
Kuo Hsiang, another member of the Council, 
*' is following out a continental policy cherished 
for the last twenty years. Its purpose is to 
seize Tsinan-fu and the northern sections of 
the Tien-tsin-Pukow railways. The situation 
confronting us is most grave. I fear that 
Shantung will become a second Manchuria. If 

11 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Japan takes Shantung, what will become of the 
nation?" 

The Council of State even discussed war 
against Japan, when General Choa Wei Hsin 
jumped to his feet and shouted: — 

"Should the people of China refuse to be- 
come slaves? There is hope that this country- 
is becoming strong again. Should the people be 
abused? Then it is better for us to die than to 
live." 

" Yes, the people must unite to prevent their 
own destruction," quickly responded General 
Wang Yi Tang. "Apparently Japan can seize 
anything it wants as a prize of war. This 
must be stopped. We are unprepared to face 
this emergency, but we must make imme- 
diate preparations to cope with the situa- 
tion." 

Looking with distrust upon Japan's actions, 
and regarding them as a serious breach of 
faith, China at once issued a protest to Japan. 
There followed the usual evasion by the Japa- 
nese diplomats. Japan intimated in her reply 
to the Foreign OflBce at Peking that she in- 
tended to go a step farther — to occupy the 

12 



JAPAN'S DREAM OF DOMINATION 

Shantung railroad from Kiaochow to Tsin- 
an-f u. Again did China protest against the vio- 
lation of her neutrality, adducing legal argu- 
ments this time to back up her claim. In reply 
to this a note was handed the Chinese Minis- 
ter at Tokyo in which the Japanese Govern- 
ment "announced its intentions of occupying 
the entire railroad from the coast to Tsinan-fu; 
that it had requested the withdrawal from the 
railroad area of all Chinese troops, and that it 
has declared that any opposition encountered 
from the Chinese authorities will be regarded 
as an act unfriendly to Japan and partial to 
Germany." 

By this method Japan sought to drive the 
"mailed fist" policy of Germany from China 
in order that she could replace it with the 
"mailed fist" policy of Japan, which has been 
modeled after that of her former Teutonic 
tutor in arms. 

In no position to resist the Japanese de- 
mands, and with everything to lose by defying 
her powerful neighbor, China was forced to be 
humiliated and accede to seeing her neutrality 
violated. It was but another example of how 

13 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Japan tries to promote cordial relationship 
between China and herself. Japan was taking 
another step toward realizing her desire to 
dominate China. 



CHAPTER II 

PRELIMINARIES TO THE DECLARATION OF 
WAR 

In a war, such as Europe was thrown into, 
there is no neutral territory to feel so much the 
concussion as the Far East. With practically 
all the Powers holding concessions in some part 
of the Orient, a diplomatic eruption in any other 
section of the world at once throws the foreign 
sections of the Far East into excitement. 

The rising war clouds find Americans, Brit- 
ishers, Germans, French, gathered together in 
the lobbies of hotels or at their respective 
clubs, all prophesying and discussing together 
the pros and cons of the question. By the time 
the actual declaration of war is served, the Far 
East is already at sword points, and the once 
cosmopolitan gatherings have become a clique 
affair with the Britishers at their club, the Ger- 
mans at theirs, the French at their quarters, 
and the Americans free to go to whichever 
their membership entitles them to. 

15 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

And then the war starts — in the actual field 
of battle by the deep undertoned voices of 
siegers and the phut-phut of rifles; in diplomatic 
centers by column after column of communica- 
tions for publication to the editors of the vari- 
ous foreign newspapers. The British Resident 
in Shanghai writes a communication denounc- 
ing the German and his methods, to which the 
Germans promptly reply. Other foreigners 
take sides and join in the "communication'* 
battle, and gradually the fight broadens. Be- 
fore the battle is half over the editor finds him- 
self swamped with mail and a truce is therefore 
declared. But by this time the political, the 
commercial, the religious, and in fact every 
side of life of the "warring nations" has ab- 
sorbed the discussion and there is little left for 
the fighters to do but to hold their chagrin for 
distribution among their fellow nationals, and 
to watch and await developments from the 
actual field of war. 

In such a condition was the Far East during 
the first week of August, 1914. With the Eu- 
ropean Powers at war with each other, there 
was a hasty call for reservists throughout the 

16 



PRELIMINARIES 

Orient. Immediately there was a rush, busi- 
ness was dropped, and everybody journeyed to 
the railway stations or to the piers to see the 
farewell of departing troops. In Yokohama 
and Kobe were great crowds of Japanese at the 
stations shouting "banzai" and waving a "sa- 
yonnara" to their departing French, British, 
Austrian, and German friends, who were all 
going over to Europe on the same boat to fight 
each other. And Shanghai and Hongkong wit- 
nessed like scenes with the enmity showing a 
little more bitter by the gathering in cliques: 
Germans on one side of the pier or on one side 
of the deck — the British on the other. 

It was the publication in the foreign press of 
Japan, on August 4, of the reported seizure of 
the Russian volunteer fleet steamer Riazan, by 
the German cruiser Emden, from Tsingtau, 
which first bristled the back of the Far East 
with talk of actual war within its boundaries. 
The capture, so the report stated, took place 
near the Korean archipelago, while the steamer 
was on its way to Vladivostok, and as such was 
considered a heavy blow to Japanese sovereign 
rights and neutrality. 

17 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

^Vhateve^ may be the truth of this reported 
German interference with trade in the Orient, 
the fact is that the Foreign Office at Tokyo had 
already seen in Germany's war against Europe 
a most opportune time to pay back that 
"grudge" against Germany for the part BerHn 
had played at the close of the Chino-Japanese 
War, in forcing Japan later to renounce the 
definite possession of the Liao-tung Peninsula, 
her fruit of the war. Then, too, the European 
war gave Japan an exceptionally favorable 
opportunity to realize her ambitions for the 
last ten years — the domination and control of 
China, and with England, Germany, Russia, 
and France all busy at home, there would be no 
Power left to check Japan but the United 
States. 

It was not, therefore, a surprise to those for- 
eigners who resided in Tokyo to learn on Au- 
gust 2 that the Foreign Office at Tokyo had 
sent a formal note to the Foreign Office in 
London in regard to the Mikado's willingness 
at once to put in force the Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance, which was negotiated in July, 1911. 
The note from Japan specifically referred to 

18 



PRELIMINARIES 

Article II of the Alliance, which stated: "If by 
reason of an unprovoked attack or aggressive 
action, wherever arising, on the part of any- 
other Power"; or, if "either of the High Con- 
tracting Parties should be involved in war in 
defense of its territorial rights or special inter- 
ests, the other High Contracting Party will at 
once come to the assistance of its ally and will 
conduct the war in common and make peace in 
mutual agreement with it." 

Japan's offer to London to join in the Euro- 
pean war by banishing the German menace 
from the Far East, signalized the approach 
of exciting and busy days in diplomatic circles 
of the Nippon Empire. 

Scarcely had the note been handed to Sir 
Conyngham Greene, the British Ambassador 
to Tokyo, than the French Ambassador, Eu- 
gene L. G. Regnault, and the Russian Ambas- 
sador, Nicolas Malewsky-Malewitch, drove up 
to the compound of the English Embassy in 
Tokyo where an exciting discussion was held 
with the British Ambassador as to the prac- 
ticability of allowing Japan to enter the war. 

The conferences of the three ambassadors 
19 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

was continued for three or four days, but just 
what stand was taken by the representatives 
was never known, except that harmony must 
have been reached, for on August 7 the British 
Ambassador handed to the Foreign Office at 
Tokyo a request that Japan join in the Euro- 
pean war. 

The exact contents of the note were never 
made pubHc, but the rumor in diplomatic 
circles in Tokyo the following day had it that 
England had asked that Japan, in case she 
joined in the war, should confine her war oper- 
ations to the actions of the German and Aus- 
trian warships, and to the protection of British 
merchantmen in Far Eastern waters, or to the 
negative help to British warships in Oriental 
waters. 

Japan, it appears, was not content with re- 
stricted action, since she was to participate in 
the war under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance, but desired rather to play a more 
important part in the war operations than were 
proposed for the Far East. 

On the same evening that the British Am- 
bassador handed the Foreign Office in Tokyo 

20 



PRELIMINARIES 

the request from Sir Edward Grey, Count 
Okuma, Premier of Japan, called a meeting of 
the Cabinet which did not break up its session 
to well beyond 2 a.m. the following morning. 
At that meeting it was decided to go further 
into action in the Far East than to control the 
Pacific waters and aid British merchantmen 
and British warships; instead, to drive Ger- 
many from Kiaochow and Asia. 

With this in mind, Baron Kato, Foreign 
Minister, proceeded the same morning to 
Nikko to advise the Emperor of Japan of the 
situation. At the same time an important con- 
ference was held at the Navy Office in Tokyo, 
at which Vice-Admiral Yashiro, Minister of 
Marine, Fleet Admiral Togo, and other promi- 
nent officials of the Navy Department con- 
ferred upon the possible part the Japanese fleet 
was to play in Oriental waters. 

Germany at this time began to scent danger 
in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and its possible 
effect upon Kiaochow and her other colonial 
possessions in the Pacific, and so on August 8 
the German Embassy issued the following 
communique stating the relative position of the 

21 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

German Far Eastern fleet with Japanese com- 
merce : — 

It will be of interest to learn that the German 
authorities have taken proper measures to avoid 
all unnecessary interference with neutral shipping, 
especially Japanese. Thus it is known that the 
German cruiser Emden, when meeting the Japan- 
ese steamship, Sakaki Maru, in hazy weather, re- 
quested her to show her flag in order to ascertain 
her nationality, and, when this request was com- 
plied with, immediately allowed her to proceed, ob- 
serving all the usual courtesies. 

Great Britain, now being advised of Japan's 
desires of pushing Germany out of Asia, began 
to hesitate in approving the start of Japan's 
war operations, and this led naturally to a 
delay in Japan's declaration to the world of her 
actions. The question that seemed to interest 
the Foreign Office in London was whether or 
not, if Japan drove Germany from Asia, 
Kiaochow should be placed under the control 
of Great Britain or of Japan. 

Japanese diplomatists evidently decided 
that they should be supreme, for already their 
Government had mobilized an army of 25,000 
men, transports had been hired, and the ves- 
sels of the Japanese navy, which were later to 



PRELIMINARIES 

blockade the Bay of Kiaochow, were already 
at their yards at Sasebo, Kure, and Yokosuka, 
coaling, loading with ammunition and supplies, 
and preparing for the first move — in case war 
should be declared against Germany. 

Meanwhile notes were being exchanged be- 
tween London and Tokyo upon the issue at 
stake — whether Kiaochow at the conclusion 
of the European war was to be given to 
Great Britain to do with as she pleased, or 
should pass into the hands of the Japanese 
Empire. With Germany busy warring in 
Europe and unable, therefore, to offer her colo- 
nies in Asia and the Pacific any assistance, 
there was no thought in the minds of London 
officials that the little German garrison at 
Kiaochow could show any substantial re- 
sistance against the overwhelming odds that 
Japan would put against it — if allowed to 
carry out her desires. 

The Foreign Offices at London and Tokyo, 
evidently being deadlocked upon the question, 
matters took a more favorable turn when Sir 
Edward Grey addressed a note to Japan in 
which he stated that Great Britain would grant 

23 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Japan's wish — to drive Germany from Kiao- 
chow — provided she " would confine her war 
operation to the China Sea" and "eventually 
turn over Kiaochow to China." 

In this move of depriving Germany of her 
Far Eastern naval base. Great Britain saw an 
opportunity of furthering her immense trade in 
China at the expense of Germany, at the same 
time depriving German commerce of a great 
asset in Asia. It sounded the death-knell of the 
"mailed fist" in Asia and, as Great Britain 
thought, would eventually see the restoration 
of Kiaochow to China, its rightful owner. 

The British note, under the new terms, being 
delivered to Japan, the Nippon capital at once 
took on busy conferences. First, the Elder 
Statesmen and the Cabinet conferred, then 
the War Office was consulted, and at length, 
on August 9, Sir Conyngham Greene, the Brit- 
ish Ambassador, was notified that Japan was 
ready to carry on the war against Germany 
according to the last note. 

In the evening of the same day Count von 
Rex, the German Ambassador in Tokyo, was 
notified informally that a breach between the 



PRELIMmARIES 

two Governments was pending. In fact, with 
the happenings that had occurred in Tokyo for 
the past several days, the German Ambassador 
had not been long in scenting danger, and days 
before had notified Berlin, as well as the Kiao- 
chow Government, of the fast approaching war 
clouds in the Orient. His government had 
therefore acted accordingly. 

On August 1, the day that Germany de- 
clared war upon England, the Norddeutscher 
Lloyd liner, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which had 
called at Shanghai, on its voyage to Bremen, 
was notified by the Berlin Government to dis- 
embark all passengers and to proceed at once 
to Tsingtau. The following day it arrived at 
the Shantung port, and on August 3, Tsingtau 
was declared under martial law. 

The British steamer, Kanchow, which was in 
port, was notified late that evening that she 
would have but two hours to leave the port or 
she would be seized. She moved out at once. 
Early the following morning Britishers, Rus- 
sians, and Americans summering at Tsingtau 
awoke to find the city posted with proclama- 
tions. Every train running into the city 

25 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

brought handfuls of German reservists from 
Tientsin and other cities in the hinterland, and 
all business in the city seemed to have ceased ; 
instead there were preparations for war. Vice- 
Admiral Meyer Waldeck, Governor of Kiao- 
chow, issued shortly afterward a note inform- 
ing all non-combatants that they would be 
given a twenty-four-hour notice to leave. That 
evening, however, found the train running from 
Tsingtau to Tsinan-f u packed with foreigners as 
well as Chinese, all greatly excited and hoping 
to get out of Kiaochow before the war broke. 
During this time quite another scene was 
being enacted in the harbor of Tsingtau. On 
August 3, the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which had 
rushed from Shanghai two days before with 
her full speed of eighteen knots, was in Tsing- 
tau being converted into a battle cruiser. 
Searchlights were placed on the vessel and the 
gunboats litis and Tiger, which stood along- 
side, were quickly stripped of their guns to be 
mounted on the faster boat. In the greater har- 
bor lay the gunboats Jaguar and Lucks, with 
sailors busy about their decks dismantling the 
vessels of guns and war equipment. With the 

26 



PRELIMINARIES 

exception of these ships the only other war- 
vessel in port was the Austrian cruiser, Kai- 
serin Elisabeth. All Tsingtau now seemed to be 
preparing for war and the busy and mysterious 
way the German residents went about the city 
quickly threw into panic the Chinese coolies of 
Tapautau, the Chinese section of the city, and 
many began to leave the district. Prompt ac- 
tion was taken by the German authorities 
however, who brought back two hundred 
coolies under guard and set them to work help- 
ing to dismantle the gunboats and equipping 
the Prinz Eitel Friedrich. 

Likewise were other war operations carried 
on about Tsingtau. Along the fortifications 
that skirted the woods on litis, Bismarck, and 
Moltke hills in the rear of the city, members of 
the German Landsturm stationed in Tsingtau 
were busy mounting machine guns and artil- 
lery. The German freighters Longmoon, Gou- 
verneur Jaeschke, and Stattssekretaer Kraetke 
had been requisitioned as colliers by the Gov- 
ernment, and after entering port and coaling 
had gone out upon the Yellow Sea twenty, 
miles to where the Emden, Scharnhost, and 

27 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Gneisenau were standing ready to fight or re- 
tire into the harbor, according to the strength 
of the enemy. At the same time Chinese junks 
heavily loaded with crates and boxes made 
their way down the Yang-tse River from 
Haicheng and interned at Tsingtau. Then 
started the long file of coolies from the piers to 
the military warehouses and fortifications with 
the crates on their backs. 

Tsingtau was preparing for war — the war 
clouds had gathered so quickly that she found 
herself unprepared, with the result that 
powder, shells, and ammunition were being 
brought into the port from somewhere in the 
hinterland of northern China. British residents 
in Tsingtau, seeing these war preparations 
under way, became uneasy, and on August 7 
more than sixty left the city for Peking. On 
the same day the Governor-General had the 
following notice posted throughout the city : — 

All British nationals are allowed to continue to 
reside at the port and engage in their business as 
hitherto if they will give their word of honor 
through the British Consul not to engage in any 
acts which may be regarded as inimical to the 
German Empire. 



PRELIMINARIES 

At Hongkong quite the same warlike scene 
was being enacted as at Tsingtau. August 1 
found the city seething with excitement over 
the secret preparations that were being made 
to guard the city against attack. Throughout 
the previous night British-owned launches in 
the harbor had been steaming to and from the 
naval jetty, with all lights out, and heavily 
loaded with ammunition, stores, and guns. In 
the harbor was H.M.S. Triumph and the Cana- 
dian Pacific liner, the Empress of Asia, which 
had been requisitioned by the Government and 
was mounting guns over her sides. All the 
British river gunboats on the Yang-tse had 
been recalled and the crews paid off and com- 
missioned to the Triumph. Large red hand- 
bills placarded the naval yards announcing to 
service men that divulgence of what was pro- 
gressing meant seven years' penal servitude. 
The British bluejackets were confined to the 
dockyard, the troops to their barracks, and 
none were allowed to leave the place. Sentries 
were placed at every outpost boundary to 
guard the four hundred square miles of the 
colony, while the Royal Garrison Artillery and 

29 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the Hongkong and Singapore battalions were 
stationed at the posts on the Peak. Within the 
city the Governor of Hongkong journeyed 
throughout the centers of employment, ad- 
dressing the workers at noon-day meetings and 
urging all able-bodied men to join the volun- 
teers or reserves. 

In this way, with sentries at attention armed 
with rifles and fixed bayonets, did the war 
clouds from Europe arise from the Pacific to 
greet the British settlement of Hongkong. 

On August 10 war rumors which had been 
circulating throughout the Orient for the past 
two weeks, took decided form when Count 
Okuma called all journalists in Tokyo together 
for a conference at his home. At the appointed 
hour more than one hundred newspapermen 
were in attendance to listen to the remarks of 
Japan's veteran statesman. It was the writer's 
fortune to be one of the listeners at the confer- 
ence, and to hear Count Okuma go over the 
war situation then existing in Europe. He 
broached the situation as it related to the 
United States and denounced as "false" the 
report, printed throughout the vernacular pa- 

30 



PRELIMINARIES 

pers a few days before, in which it was stated 
that the United States had dispatched a note 
to the Japanese Government in regard to its 
proposition to join in the European war. The 
report further stated that the Atlantic fleet 
was being rushed through the Panama Ganal 
to Japan to back up the note. 

"How can the United States make such an 
interference," said the Premier, "when Japan 
has practically done nothing in reference to the 
present war? Besides, judging from the hoH- 
day ^ of the United States, and the traits of her 
people, no one will believe in such an allega- 
tion of the American intervention with Japan's 
attitude." 

Count Okuma then laughed at the fear of 
the alleged approach of the American navy and 
advised the Japanese journalists to read Con- 
gressman Hobson's book on the United States 
before being disturbed by any thoughts of 
America. 

Lieutenant-General Oshima, Vice-Minister 
of War, Rear-Admiral Suzuki, Vice-Minister 

^ Meaning in Japanese interpretation that the United 
States is at peace with the world. 

31 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

of Marine, and Mr. Matsui, Vice-Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, in turn addressed the gather- 
ing and each hinted at the approaching war 
with Germany. The pressmen were notified 
that in the future no news about the move- 
ment of the Japanese fleet or its army could 
be printed without fear of the suppression of 
their papers by the Government. That evening 
the torpedo boats Kiji and Kamome were 
guarding the harbor at Yokohama, while a 
Japanese fleet under the command of Admiral 
Kato had put to sea and was sailing in the 
direction of Formosa. 

For the next five days about Tokyo the 
Elder Statesmen, the Cabinet, the War and 
Navy Offices and the Foreign Office were busy 
in completing the final negotiations for the en- 
try of Japan into the war. The Admiralty, to 
safeguard the actions of its fleet and army from 
the outsider, had issued drastic censorship reg- 
ulations for newspapers. On the first days of its 
issuance several newspapers were suspended 
for publishing the whereabouts of the fleet or 
troops. On August 15 the Emperor of Japan 
with the Empress repaired from his summer 

32 




Ch ~ =* 




PRELIMINARIES 

residence at Nikko to the Imperial Palace at 
Tokyo, where late that afternoon the Elder 
Statesmen, as well as the chiefs of the Gen- 
eral Staff and Naval Board, assembled before 
the throne to confer with His Majesty upon 
the Far Eastern situation and to arrange 
for the official rescript announcing the declara- 
tion of war upon Germany. The session before 
the Imperial Throne lasted until 7 in the eve- 
ning, and but a few minutes later, Count von 
Rex, the German Ambassador, was presented 
with the following note: — 

The Imperial Government, in view of the present 
situation, deems it important for the permanent 
peace of the Orient to see that causes of disturbance 
of peace in the Far East are removed and to take 
steps to protect the general interests of the Anglo- 
Japanese alliance. So, herewith the Imperial Gov- 
ernment makes the following demands on the Ger- 
man Government : — 

1. The German war- vessels shall at once with- 
draw from the waters of Japan and the China Sea. 
Those vessels which cannot withdraw shall be 
disarmed. 

2. The German Government, with the object of 
its return to China, shall hand over the leased terri- 
tory in Kiaochow to the Japanese Government on 
or after September 15 without condition and with- 
out compensation. 

33 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

If a reply, agreeing unconditionally to those de- 
mands, is not received by noon on August 23, 1914, 
the Japanese Government shall take whatever 
steps it deems necessary. 

A few days after the deliverance of the ulti- 
matum, Count Okuma called a conference at 
his residence of the business and commercial 
heads of Japan. The writer attended the con- 
ference with a Japanese interpreter and the 
following is part of Count Okuma's declaration 
made that day. The reader will note that the 
Japanese Premier states that the Japanese par- 
ticipation in the war is for no *' territorial 
aggrandizement," nor for any other " selfish 
end," and also that the Government will take 
no action to give other Powers "any cause of 
anxiety or uneasiness regarding the safety of 
their territories and possessions." The Premier 
spoke as follows: — 

Japan's object is to eliminate from the continent 
of China the root of the German influence which 
forms a constant menace to the peace of the Far 
East, and thus to secure the aim of the alliance with 
Great Britain. She harbors no design for territorial 
aggrandizement nor entertains any desire to pro- 
mote any other selfish end. Japan's warlike opera- 
tions will not, therefore, extend beyond the limits 

34 



PRELIMINARIES 

necessary for the attainment of that object and for 
the defense for her own legitmiate interests. Ac- 
cordingly the Imperial Government have no hesita- 
tion in announcing to the world that the Imperial 
Government will take no such action as to give 
third Powers any cause of anxiety or uneasiness 
regarding the safety of their territories and pos- 
sessions. 

On the same day the Japanese Government 
sent the following communique to the Foreign 
OflSce of Peking : — 

Owing to the aggressive actions of Germany, 
unfortunately a war has been started between Eng- 
land and Germany and the peace in the Far East is 
about to be disturbed. The Japanese Government, 
after consultation with England and considering 
the present circumstances and the future of the Far 
East, has been obliged to take this last course for 
the assurance of peace of the Far East and the pres- 
ervation of China's territorial integrity and the 
maintenance of peace and order in the same coun- 
try. 

Just what the Kaiser thought of the Japa- 
nese ultimatum can be gathered from the fact 
that two days after its deliverance Count von 
Rex, the German Ambassador in Tokyo, with 
his legation staffs, started to pack their belong- 
ings initial to final leave-taking. War between 

35 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the two countries, he knew, was inevitable. 
Only the German Ambassador at Peking held 
out hopes that the German ruler would not be 
humiliated by its tone, and he started a vain 
negotiation with the Berlin Government for 
the transfer of Kiaochow to China. 

But this action of Japan's I cannot understand 
[said Mr. Buttmann, of the German Embassy, 
when I called upon him a few days later]. Who is it 
that is hostile to the power of Japan in the Far 
East? It certainly is not Germany. It is none other 
than Russia who is still looking for a harbor that is 
not ice-bound, and where she can carry on her 
commerce. 

Of course the whole war is nothing but political 
nonsense, and the jealousy of Great Britain over the 
fast-growing German navy is what has led to this 
conflict in which practically all Europe is involved. 
It had been the hope of German government offi- 
cials to form some sort of alliance with Great Brit- 
ain, in which one Power supreme on sea, and the 
other Power supreme on land, could thus combine 
to maintain peace throughout Europe. But the 
English politicians in their narrowness would have 
none of it and they were bound to keep the English 
navy supreme on sea. The German navy has seen a 
wonderful growth in the past few years, but for 
every ship they built England built two. 

Then, too, Great Britain has shown her narrow- 
ness again by combining with the Slav to fight her 
own race, the Teuton. But Russia drew them on, 

36 



PRELIMINARIES 

for Russia saw in supporting Servia her chance to 
extend her power into the Balkan States and pos- 
sibly Austria-Hungary. And that is why Germany 
sent a note to Russia at the beginning of the con- 
flict asking her to stop mobilization, for if Russia 
extended her sway into Austria-Hungary it would 
be but a step into Germany, and that would be her 
aim. But Russia refused to end her mobilization, 
and so with the mobilization of the German troops 
France was brought in. With revenge for Alsace- 
Lorraine still in her mind, France realized that 
with her rise or fall the question of who should 
dictate upon the Continent rested. 

As to Germany and Kiaochow, that is not the big 
fundamental question that Germany has to con- 
tend with to-day. It is a mere nothing to them and 
does not loom up as anything vital at all. Kiao- 
chow can really only be called a sentimental ques- 
tion as far as Germany is concerned at the present. 

On August 19, Count von Rex received word 
from Governor- General Meyer Waldeck of 
Kiaochow that the Berlin Government had 
instructed him to defend Kiaochow to the last 
man. At the same time Berlin cabled the fol- 
lowing message to America: — 

Should Japan intend to take possession of Kiao- 
chow it would frighten us as little as did England's 
attack on Africa. This is only a new maneuver on 
the part of England, and though painful it will have 
little influence on the campaign. Germany will be 

37 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

obliged to refuse Japan's claim. If Germany 
thereby suffers any loss, she will take her satisfac- 
tion in other ways. 

All that Count von Rex had expected from 
Berlin in reply to the Japanese ultimatum was 
vouched for four days later — Sunday, August 
23 — when that memorable hour of 12 o'clock 
noon was reached and not a word from his 
Government. A few hours later he was handed 
his passports as well as the following Imperial 
decree announcing the declaration of war: — 

We, by the Grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan, 
seated on the Throne occupied by the same Dy- 
nasty from time immemorial, do hereby make the 
following proclamation to all Our loyal and brave 
subjects: — 

We hereby declare war against Germany and We 
command Our Army and Navy to carry on hostili- 
ties against that Empire with all their strength, and 
We also command all Our competent Authorities 
to make every effort, in pursuance of their respec- 
tive duties, to attain the national aim, by all the 
means within the limits of the law of nations. 

Since the outbreak of the present war in Europe, 
the calamitous effects of which We view with 
grave concern, We, on Our part, have entertained 
hopes of preserving the peace of the Far East by 
the maintenance of strict neutrality. But the ac- 
tion of Germany has at length compelled Great 

38 



PRELIMINARIES 

Britain, Our Ally, to open hostilities against that 
country, and Germany is, at Kiaochow, its leased 
territory in China, busy with warlike preparations, 
while its armed vessels cruising the seas of Eastern 
Asia are threatening Our commerce and that of Our 
Ally. The peace of the Far East is thus in jeopardy. 
Accordingly, Our Government and that of His 
Britannic Majesty, after a full and frank communi- 
cation with each other, agreed to take such meas- 
ures as may be necessary for the protection of the 
general interests contemplated in the Agreement of 
Alliance, and We, on Our part, being desirous to 
attain that object by peaceful means, commanded 
Our Government to offer, with sincerity, an advice 
to the Imperial German Government. By the last 
day appointed for the purpose, however, Our Gov- 
ernment failed to receive an answer accepting their 
advice. 

It is with profound regret that we, in spite of 
Our ardent devotion to the cause of peace, are thus 
compelled to declare war, especially at this early 
period of Our reign and while We are still in mourn- 
ing for Our lamented Mother. 

It is Our earnest wish that, by the loyalty and 
valor of Our faithful subjects, peace may soon be 
restored and the glory of the Empire be enhanced. 



CHAPTER III 

THE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY 

It was to be expected that while the German 
offensive movement in Belgium was develop- 
ing, during the first month of the war in Eu- 
rope, observers would center attention upon 
the countries in Europe, to the exclusion of all 
war events elsewhere. This accounts probably 
for the somewhat indifferent attitude that was 
taken toward the war that Japan was waging 
against the German protectorate at Kiaochow. 
However, the events in the Far East had pri- 
marily a more important meaning to America 
than events in Europe, for they brought to the 
fore Japan's seizure of the German islands in 
Pacific waters. In case Japan should ever war 
against the United States, these islands might 
play a very important part; for the once Ger- 
man possessions in the Pacific can be utilized as 
a block in the communication between the colo- 
nial possessions of the United States, namely, 
Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. 

40 



THE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY 

While Japan had actually started her war 
operations against Kiaoehow days before her 
declaration of war against Germany, the first 
event in the war was the blockading of the 
Bay of Kiaoehow. On August 26, three days 
after the declaration of war, Vice-Admiral 
S. Kato, in command of the second Japa- 
nese squadron, consisting of the Suwo, Iwami, 
and Tango, which had been the Pobjeda, 
Orel, and Poltawa of the Russian fleet be- 
fore their capture by the Japanese in 1905, 
steamed from their base on the island of For- 
mosa and drew up in a semi-circle ten miles out 
from Tsingtau. Admiral Kato sent a wireless 
message to Governor Meyer Waldeck of Kiao- 
ehow asking that he receive a parlementaire 
from the Japanese Government to consider the 
surrender of the protectorate. The Governor 
of Kiaoehow refused the request unless the 
desires of the Japanese Government were 
specifically expressed, whereupon the Bay of 
Kiaoehow was immediately declared by the 
Japanese to be blockaded. 

Days before the German garrison at Tsing- 
tau had expected this development, and so after 

41 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

calling in her Far Eastern fleet consisting of the 
flagship Scharnhorst, under command of Ad- 
miral von Spec, the Emden and the Gneisenau, 
the war-vessels were reprovisioned and dis- 
patched from the Bay of Kiaochow on a raid- 
ing cruise which proved one of the most melo- 
dramatic of the war. Germany had learned her 
lesson from the Russians and she decided that 
she was not going to do what the Czar's com- 
manders had done at Port Arthur during her 
war with Japan — allow the bottling-up of her 
fleet. 

With the departure of Admiral von Spec's 
fleet from Tsingtau, the entrance to the Bay of 
Kiaochow was sown with more than five thou- 
sand mines behind which barrier steamed the 
disarmed Austrian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth, 
as well as the German destroyer, S-90. 

For the next several days the war operations 
of both Japan and Germany were seemingly 
veiled. The first fleet of the Japanese navy, 
under command of Admiral K. Kato, was still 
steaming about Formosa and the China coast, 
evidently searching for German prey, while the 
British cruiser Triumph and the British gun- 

42 



THE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY 

boat Kennet, which were scheduled to join in 
the Kiaochow action, were cruising off Hong- 
kong and Shanghai guarding the China coast 
from the approach of the German Far Eastern 
fleet. The latter, however, was cruising about 
the South Pacific islands, searching for British 
merchantmen and otherwise guarding the Ger- 
man possessions. 

To the extreme north of the Yellow Sea 
were the Japanese transports steaming toward 
northern Shantung and bearing twenty thou- 
sand fighting men, all eager to put into effect 
"the game" of the Mikado's protectorate in 
China and the driving of Germany from Asia. 

Within Kiaochow and Tsingtau final prepa- 
rations were being made for the Japanese at- 
tack. With a permanent garrison of only six- 
teen hundred men, Berlin had issued a call 
for the reservists in the Far East to report at 
Tsingtau, and into the German protectorate 
they poured — from Singapore, Hongkong, 
Shanghai, Kobe, and Tokyo; every train from 
Tsinan-fu into Tsingtau brought its quota of 
Germany's finest men. The majority of the 
reservists were traders, men who had spent 

43 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

years in the Far East in learning native lan- 
guages and fostering German trade. By the 
first week in September there were about forty- 
five hundred fighting men gathered about the 
fortifications of Tsingtau. 

All were busy along the fortification walls 
that skirt the rear of the city. Trenches were 
being dug, the ground in front mined, redoubts 
with bomb-proof shelters constructed, barbed- 
wire entanglements set up, and guns mounted. 
The garrison was expecting the landing of the 
Japanese land forces at any minute and the 
Tsingtau fortifications were alive with moving 
men both day and night. 

But the German garrison of Kiaochow had 
seemingly forgotten, during their exciting prep- 
arations for war, that the Japanese diplomats 
are shrewd, and that even an army bent on war 
sometimes halts to gather fruit by the wayside. 
And so the German garrison worked hard and 
labored in preparation for news of the landing 
in Kiaochow of the Japanese expeditionary 
force and their advance upon Tsingtau, but the 
Japanese did not come. 

Expectancy always kindles excitement. And 



THE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY 

so it did in Tsingtau during the last week in 
August. At night the bright flares and flashes 
from the searchhghts on the blockading squad- 
ron could be seen reflected like signals on the 
clouds that hung over the Yellow Sea, suggest- 
ing "to-morrow the attack" in the minds of 
the Tsingtau garrison. But the days came and 
went without much change in maneuvers. 

One day, however, the blockading squadron 
approached within the nine-mile zone to the 
entrance to Kiaochow Bay, and then it was 
that the residents in Tsingtau heard the deep 
undertone reports of their twenty -four-centi- 
meter guns on litis Fort and knew that the war 
in the Far East had actually started. 

And the " to-morrow," — well, it came and 
with no signs of the approaching expeditionary 
forces, until, on September 3, the German gar- 
rison at Tsingtau received a report that the 
Japanese troops had landed at Lungkow, one 
hundred and fifty miles to the north. 

The news was received with surprise and 
was instantly followed by the ordering of three 
detachments of the German troops into the 
hinterland of Kiaochow. One detachment, 

45 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

called the eastern detachment, proceeded in 
the direction of Chinchiakow to guard the road 
to Chef 00 ; another proceeded to Kaomi to 
check the advance of the Japanese on the road 
from Lungkow; and the third, or western, de- 
tachment stationed themselves at Chucheng 
to guard the southern seacoast. 

Beyond Lungkow, the Japanese army be- 
gan to violate China's neutrality, which, at the 
opening of hostilities, they had guaranteed to 
uphold. With the troops already landed upon 
Chinese soil, and with the Peking Government 
too weak to carry on any aggressive action 
against Japan, no matter how much her citi- 
zens desired it, there was but one thing China 
could do — place a limitation upon the actions 
of the Japanese troops in northern Shantung. 
In this connection the Chinese Government on 
September 4 sent the following note to the 
foreign legations in Peking : — 

The Government of China declared its neutrality 
toward the present European war and is faithfully 
maintaining it. According to reports from the 
Chinese local authorities in the province of Shan- 
tung, the Germans have commenced war opera- 
tions at Kiaochow Bay and their sphere of influence 

46 



THE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY 

there, and the allied forces of Japan and Britain 
have also started war operations at Lungkow, 
Kiaochow, Laichow, and in their neighboring dis- 
tricts. Germany, Japan, and England are all in 
friendly relations with China, and it is to be re- 
gretted that unfortunately these Powers have 
taken such unexpected courses in China's territory, 
therefore the Chinese Government has decided to 
propose special limitations as regards the extent of 
the present war operations as China limited the 
scope of war operations at Liao-tung Peninsula at 
the time of the Ruso- Japanese War in 1904. The 
Chinese Government will not accept responsibility 
for the passing of troops or any war operations at 
Lungkow, Laichow, Kiaochow, and their adjacent 
districts, but in the other districts in China the 
Government will strictly enforce neutrality as de- 
clared. The territory and diplomatic negotiations 
of China are recognized by the Powers and they 
will likewise protect the property of the inhabitants 
in the region to be affected by the war operations. 

Though Peking and all China looked with 
distrust upon Japan's actions, the Government 
issued a proclamation stating that "as Japan 
and England are cooperating in the attack 
upon Tsingtau at this time, in order to return 
Kiaochow to China, our people should show 
their good-wills toward them. If any Chinese 
officials should meet Japanese or British sol- 
diers they should show their good-will toward 

47 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

them, should act peacefully and avoid all con- 
flicts. Should the Japanese or British soldiers 
come outside of the war zone, our soldiers and 
citizens should not act independently, but 
should await instructions from Peking." 

On September 11, Japanese forces entered 
Tsimo, ninety miles from Lungkow, after bat- 
tling nine days with heavy rains which flooded 
rivers and made the advancement of military 
operations practically impossible. The roads 
were mere quagmires in which the heavy mili- 
tary carts sank to their hubs. 

From Tsimo the troops pushed on to Wei- 
hsien, again going out of the defined war zone 
and violating the neutrality of China. 

This last action seems to have been the straw 
that broke the camel's back, for all of northern 
China rose in revolt against the Japanese ac- 
tion. The Japanese troops took command of 
the Shantung railroad, shooting down native 
employees who seemingly rebelled at the inva- 
sion. The troops pushed on to Tsinan-f u, leaving 
small garrisons in every Chinese town to keep 
"Japan's peace," and in a few days western 
Shantung was practically in the control of Japan. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ADVANCE OF THE JAPANESE ARMY 

On September 11, while officials in Peking 
were still discussing Japan's violation of China's 
neutrality, the Imperial Japanese army with 
its cavalry arrived at Pingtau, about forty 
miles from Tsingtau. There had been no sight 
of the enemy, but reports were current that 
a detachment of Germans were garrisoned in 
the little city of Tsimo, about twenty miles 
distant. The same night the troops advanced 
toward Tsingtau, and on the following morning 
the first encounter of the war with Germany 
took place at Tsimo. 

The little German garrison, consisting of but 
ten men, was driven off easily after an ex- 
change of a few shots, in which two of the Ger- 
mans fell wounded and Tsimo, a Chinese city 
of thirty thousand population, passed into the 
hands of Japan. The Japanese army offi- 
cers, to soften the hostile feeling of the Chinese 
residents against them, at once journeyed to 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the shrines of Confucius, devout Shintoists and 
Buddhists as they were, and knelt in prayer 
before the great philosopher of the Celestial 
Kingdom. In this way did the Japanese army 
officers gain the respect of the Chinese natives 
in Tsimo. 

While these warlike events were taking place 
about Tsimo, Tsingtau was suddenly thrown 
into great confusion by the flight of a Japanese 
aeroplane over the city dropping bombs. The 
aeroplane, which was attached to the blockad- 
ing squadron, had previously made one or two 
reconnoitering flights over the Tsingtau forti- 
fications, but had confined its actions simply 
to observation. The gaping holes in the roofs 
of the Moltke Barracks and Governor Wal- 
deck's residence, which marked the damage 
done by Japan's first use of the aeroplane in 
modern warfare, put the residents of Tsingtau 
in great excitement. From then until the first 
week of November and the siege of Tsingtau, 
the little city lived in an atmosphere of trem- 
bling expectancy. 

With the "game" in the landing of troops 
at Lungkow now fulfilled, — the occupation of 

50 




JAPANESE AEROPLANE 

Preparing for a tliglit over the city of Tsingtau from its base along the Tsehang- 
tsun River. The long tubular bomb-carrier can be seen on each side of the 
aviator's wind-shield 




THE MOLTKE BARRACKS AT TSINGTAU 

The roof shows the work of bombs from tlie Japanese aeroplanes. The con- 
cussion from the guns in the near-by forts had shattered every window 



ADVANCE OF THE JAPANESE ARMY 

western Shantung, — Japan now set about to 
bring her war operations to a close in the 
brushing of Germany from Asia. The first step 
taken toward this end was in the transferring 
of her base of supphes from Lungkow, one 
hundred and fifty miles from Tsingtau, to 
Lauschan, but fifteen miles from the German 
city. The district lies just without the limits of 
Kiaochow and, having a large bay, well shel- 
tered by the Lauschan Mountains, which rise 
up in the Yellow Sea at its southern end, it 
furnished an ideal location for a base of 
supplies. 

On September 14, Commander Aoki, in com- 
mand of the destroyer flotilla before Tsingtau, 
forced a reconnoissance into Lauschan Bay and 
drove back the handful of German sentinels 
that were posted about the district. The fol- 
lowing day other units of the blockading squad- 
ron were brought into effect at Lauschan and 
within a few days Japanese transports ap- 
peared in the bay bearing fifteen thousand ad- 
ditional troops. 

Siege guns were unloaded, ammunition and 
supplies of all kinds, as well as several aero- 

51 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

planes and portable wireless outfits, and soon 
Lauschan was a bustling little war-city. Chi- 
nese coolies of the district were forced into serv- 
ice and work was started on the construction of 
a narrow-gauged railroad into the hinterland 
to carry supplies to the attacking army. 

Tsingtau by now was practically cut off 
from all communication with the world. The 
Shantung railroad had been cut by the Jap- 
anese army and troops had already entered 
the Chinese city of Kiaochow, outside the pro- 
tectorate. The Tsingtau cable line had been 
cut, and only the wireless in the rear of Gover- 
nor Waldeck's residence remained as a source 
for news of anything happening outside the 
little protectorate. Through messages trans- 
mitted by wireless from German vessels an- 
chored at Woosung, near Shanghai, Tsingtau 
was able to get a few scattered messages of 
events in the European situation, but these 
were meager and only served as an appetizer 
for more. Japanese aviators had on one or two 
occasions tried to destroy the Tsingtau wire- 
less station by bombs, but only once did the 
effort prove effective, and then the damage 

52 



ADVANCE OF THE JAPANESE ARMY 

done was repaired in a few days by the Ger- 
mans and communication was again opened. 

On September 18, the Japanese troops which 
had landed at Lauschan advanced into the 
hinterland eight miles, where they suddenly 
met with resistance from a detachment of 
about one hundred Germans who had strongly 
fortified themselves in one of the mountainous 
passes, behind machine guns. No casualties 
were suffered in the fighting, but the Germans 
were forced to retreat toward Tsingtau. 

On the same day Captain Zenji Sakuma, of 
the Japanese cavalry corps, was killed in a 
skirmish of his force with an advanced guard of 
Germans near Liuting on the river Paisha, the 
western boundary of Kiaochow. It was the 
first Japanese casualty of the war. In the same 
engagement Baron Leadsell, second secretary 
of the German Legation at Peking, was also 
killed. 

For the next two weeks there were many 
clashes and skirmishes between small detach- 
ments of the two opposing forces, and all 
tended to the gradual retreat of the Germans 
toward their fortifications at Tsingtau. 

53 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

During the next week the Japanese army 
centered its fighting in the mountainous dis- 
tricts south of Lauschan and gradually the 
small German detachments were driven back 
toward Tsingtau. With the occupation of 
Sanpiaoshan Peak, nine hundred feet high, on 
September 22, the Japanese were able to secure 
a first-class observatory position, from which 
to view the movements of the German front 
line, four miles distant at Litsun and Shat- 
sekau. 

Two days later the attacking force was fur- 
ther strengthened by the landing of the British 
expeditionary force at Lauschan, under the 
command of Major-General Barnardiston. 
The British force consisted of the Tientsin gar- 
rison of South Wales Borderers, comprising 
nine hundred and twenty-five men with three 
hundred additional Sikhs. 



CHAPTER V 

CLOSING IN THE OFFENSIVE 

The war operations of the combined Anglo- 
Japanese force in Kiaochow, from the last week 
in September until the siege of Tsingtau late in 
October, offered little of interest to the outside 
reader, such as was furnished by the war raging 
in Europe. With a battle front of scarcely five 
miles, and with the German garrison at Tsing- 
tau able to put only two thousand trained sol- 
diers in the field, the fighting in Kiaochow dur- 
ing the above-stated period took the form 
more or less of mere skirmishes. 

Governor-General Meyer- Wal deck at Tsing- 
tau had scattered his trained force in small 
detachments about the hinterland, there to 
guard the roads and, if possible, hinder the 
advance of the Japanese troops, but so over- 
whelmingly were the odds against him that the 
resistance was very little. 

From a military standpoint, however, the 
maneuvering of the troops during these four 

55 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

weeks had proved beneficial to the Japanese 
army, in that it gave the aviation corps a 
chance to show the value of the aeroplane in 
modern fighting. It was the first time the Jap- 
anese army had ever utilized the air machine 
in their war operations. Five or six machines 
were in flight throughout the day marking 
movements of the Tsingtau garrison. Through 
this form of communication the Japanese staff 
officers were constantly in touch with the 
movement of the German field force, and 
gradually they were able to cut through the 
German front defense and force the latter to 
withdraw toward the Tsingtau fortifications. 

Bringing the gunboat Jaguar and the Aus- 
trian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth up the Bay of 
Kiaochow, the Germans opened fire upon the 
advancing force, both from sea and land, in an 
effort to check the advance, but the Japanese 
retaliated by sending a bomb attack from their 
aeroplanes against the ships and gradually 
they were forced out of range of the land 
operations. 

At the same time the fourth detachment of 
the Japanese blockading fleet before Tsingtau 

56 



CLOSING IN THE OFFENSIVE 

in the Yellow Sea advanced into the bay at the 
foot of the Lauschan range, and, after landing 
marines, forced back the left wing of the Ger- 
man defense line to within three miles of Tsing- 
tau. Four old field guns, German trophies of 
the Franco-Prussian War, were all the spoils 
that the Japanese gained in the attack. The 
German outposts in the mountains, however, 
before withdrawing, applied the torch to Meck- 
lenberg Inn, a mountain summer resort for the 
Tsingtau residents, and destroyed all the 
bridges in the mountain gorges that the Ger- 
man Government had built in constructing the 
macadamized automobile road from the capi- 
tal of the protectorate into the mountains. 

In the same way did the German outposts 
along the Bay of Kiaochow hinder the advance 
of the Japanese army by dynamiting all rail- 
road bridges and the like along the route of the 
Shantung railroad. 

During this time Japanese trawlers were 
busy at work in the Yellow Sea sweeping the 
entrance to the bay of mines that the Germans 
had placed in the waters. The Tsingtau prom- 
ontory forts all attempted to harass the work 

57 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

by firing upon the trawlers, but the guns were 
not equal to the range and no damage was re- 
ported. A German aeroplane also made con- 
tinuous flights over the vessels at sea, dropping 
bombs, and the Japanese retaliated by dis- 
patching two hydroplanes in pursuit of the 
German air machine. In each such case the 
German machine easily outdistanced the Japa- 
nese flying corps and flew back in range of 
the Tsingtau fortifications before the Japanese 
aviators could head it off. 

By October 12, the Japanese investing army, 
with the British expeditionary force making up 
the right wing, had advanced to Litsun, about 
eight miles from Tsingtau. Here the German 
front line seemed to take a stubborn stand and 
backed by the Kiaochow cavalry and artillery 
the fighting took on more desperate form. 
During the week the Germans were firing more 
than fifteen hundred shells daily from their 
field pieces and the Japanese casualties for the 
total operations had passed the two hundred 
mark. 

So hot did the operations before Litsun 
eventually become that the Governor- General 

58 




ON THE MARCH THROUGH A CHINESE VILLAGE IN KIAOCHOAV 




TROPHY RELICS FROM THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

Used by the Germans in the defense of Tsingtau. Rather than leave them as 
useful prizes of war to the enemy, they blew the breech-block off each guu 



CLOSING IN THE OFFENSIVE 

of Kiaochow forwarded a dispatch to General 
Kamio, commander of the investing force, ask- 
ing for a suspension of hostiHties in order that 
time could be taken to bury the dead. Just 
what were the German losses in the engage- 
ment is not known, but a few hours later, when 
the bombardment was resumed, the Japanese 
force in advancing came upon a trench with 
twenty-eight dead Germans, evidently over- 
looked by the Tsingtau garrison during the 
truce, and it is thought the German casualties 
for the day amounted to more than two 
hundred. 

In preparation for the final investment of 
Tsingtau, however, the Japanese staff officers 
decided to notify all non-combatants in the 
city of the situation and, if possible, give them 
an opportunity to leave the war zone before the 
operations became more serious. In this con- 
nection the following communication was sent 
by wireless to Governor-General Waldeck at 
Tsingtau on October 10: — 

The undersigned have the honor to convey to 
Your Excellency the most gracious wishes of the 
Emperor of Japan, who desires to save non-com- 

59 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

batants of the belligerent country as well as the 
subjects of neutral countries at Tsingtau who de- 
sire to escape from the loss that may arise from the 
attack on the fortified port. If Your Excellency 
desires to accept the proposal of the Emperor of 
Japan, you are requested to furnish us with a 
detailed communique about it. 

[Signed] Lieutenant-General Kamio. 

Vice-Admiral Kato. 

A few days later the Kiaochow Governor 
notified his approval of the Japanese note and 
Captain Yamada, with ten Japanese soldiers, 
was sent to the gates of Tsingtau to escort the 
non-combatants who desired to leave the ill- 
fated city and the war zone. Only about a 
dozen persons desired to take advantage of the 
Japanese humanitarian note, one being Mr. 
Peck, the American Consul at Tsingtau, who 
had remained in the city to protect American 
interests, until notified from Washington to 
proceed to Peking. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GERMANS WITHDRAW TO TSINGTAU 

With the field guns of the attacking force 
now thundering at the very door of Tsingtau, 
and with the final leave-taking of non-combat- 
ants, the little German city commenced to stir 
with excitement. Up to this time the city had 
not been cheered by any optimistic reports 
from the field of battle, but events shortly took 
on a different aspect when on the midnight of 
October 17 a report went circulating through 
the city that a Japanese battleship had been 
sunk outside the Bay of Kiaochow by the Ger- 
man destroyer S-90. 

The report was true, but not until days later 
did the little German city learn the extent of 
the damage. It seems that the German de- 
stroyer, which was supposedly interned in the 
harbor of Tsingtau, had made its way out 
through the mined entrance to the harbor un- 
der cover of darkness and had attacked the 
Takachiho, a second-class defense boat of the 

61 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Japanese blockading fleet, which was doing 
outpost duty near Lauschan Bay. Suddenly 
the other units of the Japanese fleet, which 
were standing out at sea about nine miles, saw 
a flash, and a few minutes later the report of an 
explosion was heard. Putting on full speed, the 
vessels rushed to the aid of the Takachiho, but 
when they arrived in the waters they found the 
vessel already sunk and a few of its crew scat- 
tered about in the sea. As the relief ships ap- 
proached they caught the sound of the Japa- 
nese national anthem, "Kimigayo," which 
the survivors were singing. Only one oflScer 
and twelve of the crew were picked up as sur- 
vivors of the incident. Twenty-eight officers 
and two hundred and forty-four of the crew 
had gone down with the vessel. 

It was a sorry day for the Japanese navy, not 
only from the standpoint of the loss of its many 
officers, but because of the sinking of the vessel 
around which was wrapped so much historical 
sentiment. The Takachiho had been the flag- 
ship of the Japanese navy during the Chinese- 
Japanese War, and as such had played a promi- 
nent part in the naval battles of that war which 

6S 



GERMANS WITHDRAW TO TSINGTAU 

had left Japan supreme among Asiatic nations. 
It had also seen service at Port Arthur in the 
Russian war, and had come to be looked upon 
by the Japanese as the foundation of their 
present first-class navy, much as the American 
people regard the Constitution. 

Following its successful attack upon the Ta- 
kachiho, the German destroyer broke through 
the Japanese blockading squadron and, its 
movements unnoticed, cruised along the China 
coast to Shihsuehso, a Chinese port sixty miles 
south of the Bay of Kiaochow where the vessel 
was beached and disarmed by its crew. The 
crew was then placed under guard by Chinese 
soldiers, by orders from Peking, and was held 
at Nanking. 

With the report of the escape of the S-90 in 
Japanese hands, the blockading fleet at once 
closed up on Tsingtau and started a bombard- 
ment upon the forts, from a point nine miles at 
sea. The British cruiser Triumph also joined 
in the action, but upon approaching within gun 
range of the Tsingtau promontory forts she 
received damage on her port side. One sailor 
was killed and several wounded in the attack. 

63 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

In cooperation with the sea attack upon 
Tsingtau the investing land forces started their 
operations for the final investment of the city 
from land. One regiment started an assault 
upon Prince Heinrich Berg, a mountain rising 
one thousand feet, and but three miles from 
Tsingtau, on which a detachment of thirty 
Germans had been stationed. Barbed-wire 
entanglements had been placed on the moun- 
tain-side, already strongly fortified behind the 
rocky crags that characterized the cliff. The 
little German detachment was able success- 
fully to hold its own for more than four hours. 
One Japanese major and more than fifty men 
were killed in the storming of Prince Heinrich, 
but by a coup a few of the regiment were able 
to gain the summit of the mountain from the 
rear, without their approach being noticed by 
the Germans, who, surrounded on all sides, laid 
down their arms and surrendered. 

Following this incident the Japanese and 
British forces were suddenly thrown into bewil- 
derment by the disappearance across the Yel- 
low Sea of one of the German observatory 
balloons from Tsingtau. The balloon, which 

64 



GERMANS WITHDRAW TO TSINGTAU 

corresponded to the type being used by the 
Japanese army from their rear Hne, was seen 
to contain the figure of a man using field- 
glasses, and during the middle of October it 
was every morning above the Tsingtau fortifi- 
cations. The attacking army had tried to reach 
the balloon with shrapnel, but the attempt 
had proved unsuccessful. Suddenly one day in 
a heavy wind the balloon, with its observer, — 
afterwards learned to be a stuffed dummy, — 
took to the air and went whirling across the 
sea. Japanese and British oflScers followed it 
with their glasses, wondering what the move- 
ment could mean, and it was several days 
before it was known to have been a hoax. 

With the disappearance of their war balloon 
from Tsingtau, the German garrison was 
forced to rely upon its one Taube for informa- 
tion of the Japanese army movements. In all 
the heroic work of the German defenders in 
Kiaochow, probably no incident stands out 
more than the work of Lieutenant Pluschow, 
who, days before the Japanese army had ap- 
proached to gunshot distance of the Tsingtau 
forts, was flying about the hinterland of Kiao- 

65 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

chow spotting the movements of the opposing 
force. With only three months' training, he 
had taken charge of the German aircraft, and 
high in the air above the entrenched British 
and Japanese forces, he had braved shrapnel 
fire and shells from field guns in order to keep 
the German staff at Tsingtau acquainted with 
any changes on the battle line. 

Back in Tschang-tsun, where was stationed, 
two weeks before the siege of Tsingtau, the 
headquarters of the Japanese staff officers, no 
alarm clock was needed to tell when daylight 
was rising from the Yellow Sea. Simultane- 
ously with the first streaks of dawn in the east 
could be heard the whirr and hum of Lieuten- 
ant Pluschow's Taube as he set out from Tsing- 
tau, and over the hills in the hinterland, to see 
what was stirring in the enemy's camp. Swoop- 
ing low over the village of the Japanese staff 
officers, he dropped many a bomb upon the 
Chinese thatched roofs. The hum of the Ger- 
man aeroplane was the signal that a new day 
had arrived, and promptly the little village was 
astir, each of its residents hurriedly dressing 
and scanning the sky for the fast-disappearing 

66 



GERMANS WITHDRAW TO TSINGTAU 

Taube. Each day he visited the Japanese 
headquarters, and though, on occasions, a 
Japanese field piece, hidden behind some em- 
bankment, would try to cut short these flying 
expeditions. Lieutenant Pluschow was un- 
daunted, and a few hours later would be back 
again flying over the village. 

But the investing forces slowly pushed on 
their operations. There was not much hurry, 
not much excitement in their movements, for 
the Japanese staff oflicers, as well as the Tsing- 
tau garrison, knew that it was only a question 
of time before Kiaochow would have to bow to 
the inevitable and be handed over to Japan. 
General Kamio, commander of the Japanese 
forces, knew that he was master of the situa- 
tion, that Tsingtau was practically isolated 
from the world, and especially Germany, and 
that no aid could possibly reach the little 
protectorate. 

And so the Japanese staff officers allowed 
events to progress slowly, not especially be- 
cause it would lessen loss of life, but because 
the political situation, then developing in 
Japan, was very critical for the Tokyo Govern- 

67 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

ment. The Cabinet, which in conjunction with 
the Elder Statesmen had shaped the poUcy 
that the nation was following in the war, stood 
in danger of falling, and with the Diet meeting 
in December to shape the Government's budget 
and to decide on other bills and measures, it 
was deemed necessary that the war operations 
should progress slowly until the right moment 
should present itself for bringing the Kiaochow 
issue to a close. 

Under such a scheme the Government 
thought the successful culmination of its war 
operations would sweep the island nation with 
patriotism and the opposition to the Govern- 
ment at home would at once have to accede to 
public demand. In this way the Okuma Cabi- 
net would remain in power after the Diet ses- 
sion, and would be able to further the policy 
that it had under construction when it first 
suggested to England that it be allowed to wipe 
out the German naval base at Kiaochow under 
the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 

A later chapter describes how the culmina- 
tion of hostilities at Kiaochow brought on a 
serious political situation in Tokyo in which 

68 



GERMANS WITHDRAW TO TSINGTAU 

Japanese statesmen were forced to bow to pub- 
lic clamor and reveal their diplomatic insin- 
cerity, in order to remain in power and hold the 
Government's policy intact. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE 

War from a grandstand seat! I had never 
before heard of the possibiHty of witnessing 
modern warfare — the attack of warships, the 
fire of infantry and battery, the reconnoitering 
of airships over the enemy's Hnes, the rolHng 
up from the rear of reinforcements and sup- 
phes — all at one sweep of the eye, yet after 
watching for three days the siege of Tsingtau, 
from a position on Prince Heinrich Berg, one 
thousand feet above sea level and but three 
miles from the besieged city, I am sure there is 
actually such a thing as a theater of war. 

On October 31, the anniversary of Mutsu- 
hito's accession to the throne of Japan, the 
actual bombardment of Tsingtau began. All 
the residents in the little Chinese village of 
Tschang-tsun had been awakened early in the 
morning by the whirr of the German Taube as 
it made its usual inspection of the headquar- 
ters of the Japanese staff officers. Every one 

70 




HEADQUARTERS OF THE GEXERAL STAFF OF THE 
JAPANESE FORCES AT TSCHANG-TSUN 




TSIXOTAU ON THE MORNING OF OCTOP.EU 31 

As it appeared from the Japanese Staff Office at Tseliang-tsui), when the bom- 
bardment began. Japanese shells hail tired the oil-tanks, and the smoke Imn-; 
like a pall over the city throughout the day 



BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE 

quickly dressed and after a hasty breakfast 
was out at the southern edge of the village 
gazing toward Tsingtau. 

A great black column of smoke was arising 
from the city and hung like a pall over the be- 
sieged. x\t first glance it seemed that one of the 
neighboring hills had turned into an active 
volcano and was emitting this column of 
smoke, but oflScers who stood about enlight- 
ened onlookers by explaining that the oil tanks 
in Tsingtau were on fire. 

As the bombardment of Tsingtau was sched- 
uled to start early in the morning, we were 
invited to accompany members of the staffs of 
the Japanese and British expeditionary forces 
on a trip to Prince Heinrich Berg, there to 
watch the investment of the city. 

When we arrived at the summit there was 
the theater of war laid out before us like a map. 
To the left were the Japanese and British cruis- 
ers in the Yellow Sea, preparing for the bom- 
bardment of Tsingtau. Below was a Japanese 
battery, stationed near the Meeker house, 
which the Germans had burned in their retreat 
from the mountains. Directly ahead was the 

71 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

city of Tsingtau with the Austrian cruiser 
Kaiserin EHsabeth steaming about in the har- 
bor, while to the right one could see the Ger- 
man coast and central forts and redoubts and 
the entrenched Japanese and British camps. 

We had just couched ourselves comfortably- 
bet ween some large jagged rocks, where we felt 
sure we were not on a direct line with the ene- 
my's guns, when suddenly there was a flash as 
if some one had turned a large golden mirror in 
the field down beyond to the right. A little 
column of black smoke drifted away from one 
of the Japanese "saps," or trenches, and in a 
minute later those of us on the peak of Prince 
Heinrich heard the sharp report of a field gun. 

*' Gentlemen, the show has started," said the 
British captain, as he removed his cap and 
started adjusting his "opera" glasses. No 
sooner had he said this than the report of guns 
came from all directions, with a continuous 
rumble, as if a giant bowling-alley were in use. 

Everywhere the valley at the rear of Tsing- 
tau was alive with golden flashes or the flashing 
from discharging guns, and at the same time 
great clouds of bluish-white smoke would sud- 

72 



BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE 

denly spring up around the German batteries, 
where some Japanese shell had burst. 

Over near the greater harbor of Tsingtau 
could be seen flames licking up the Standard 
Oil and Asiatic Petroleum Companies' large 
tanks. We afterwards learned that they had 
been ignited from the huge shells that had been 
turned upon the tanks from the Japanese guns, 
and the bursting tanks had thrown burning 
oil on to the naval buildings and wharves ad- 
joining. 

The warships in the Yellow Sea opened fire 
on litis Fort, and for three hours we continually 
played our glasses on the field, on Tsingtau, and 
on the warships. With glasses on the central 
redoubt of the Germans, we watched the ef- 
fects of the Japanese fire until the boom of 
guns from the German Fort A, on a little pen- 
insula jutting out from Kiaochow Bay, toward 
the east, attracted our attention there. We 
could see the big siege gun on this fort rise up 
over the bunker, aim at a warship in the sea, 
fire, and then quickly go down again. And 
then we would turn our eyes toward the war- 
ships in time to see a fountain of water, two 

73 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

hundred yards from the vessel, where the shell 
had struck. We scanned the city of Tsingtau. 
The one hundred and fifty-ton crane on the 
greater harbor, which we had seen earlier in 
the day, and which was said to be the largest 
crane in the world, had disappeared and only 
its base remained standing. A Japanese shell 
had carried away the crane. 

As the sun started to drop behind the Pearl 
Mountains in the west, our eyes were suddenly 
attracted by wavering flashes from fire close to 
Moltke Fort. Turning our glasses on the spot, 
we saw an armored car pushed by a locomotive 
suddenly dart out from the shadows of the for- 
tress, run a short distance along the tracks of 
the Shantung railroad that skirt the Bay of 
Kiaochow, come to a stop, and then open fire 
upon the entrenched British force on its right. 
There were quick flashes of flames from its side 
as its guns poured round after round into the 
trenches, and then the engine would quickly 
pull the armored battery back behind the hill 
and from view. 

But this first day's firing of the Japanese in- 
vesting troops was mainly to test the range of 

74 



BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE 

the different batteries. The attempt also was 
made to silence the line of forts extending in 
the east from litis Hill, near the wireless and 
signal stations at the rear of Tsingtau, to the 
coast fort near the burning oil tank on the west. 
In this they were partly successful, two guns at 
litis Fort being silenced by the guns at sea. 

On November 1, the second day of the bom- 
bardment, we again stationed ourselves on the 
peak of Prince Heinrich Berg. From the earli- 
est hours of morning the Japanese and British 
forces had kept up a continuous fire on the 
German redoubts, in front of the litis, Moltke, 
and Bismarck forts, and when we arrived at 
our seat for the theater of war, it seemed as 
though the shells were dropping around the 
German trenches every minute. Particularly 
on the redoubt of Tai-tung-chen was the Japa- 
nese fire heavy, and by early afternoon, viewed 
through field-glasses, this German redoubt ap- 
peared to have an attack of smallpox, so 
pitted was it from the holes made by bursting 
Japanese shells. By nightfall many parts of 
the German redoubts had been destroyed, to- 
gether with some machine guns. The result 

75 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

was the advancement of the Japanese front line 
several hundred yards forward from the bot- 
tom of hills where they had rested earlier in the 
day. 

It was not until the third day of the bom- 
bardment that those of us stationed on Prince 
Heinrich observed that our theater of war had 
a curtain, a real asbestos one that screened the 
fire in the drops directly ahead of us from our 
eyes. We had learned that the theater was 
equipped with pits, drops, a gallery for on- 
lookers, exits, and an orchestra of booming 
cannon and rippling, roaring pom-poms, but 
that nature had provided it with a curtain — 
that was something new to us. 

We had reached the summit of the mountain 
about 11 A.M., just as some heavy clouds, evi- 
dently disturbed by the heavy bombardment 
during the previous night, were dropping down 
into Litsun valley and in front of Tsingtau. 
For three hours we sat on the peak shivering in 
a blast from the sea and all the while wonder- 
ing just what was being enacted beyond the 
curtain. The firing had suddenly ceased, and 
with the filmy haze before our eyes we con- 

76 







JAPANESE SI rrLY COLUMN OX THE WAY TO 
THE REAR LINE 

On the clay of the opening of the siege, October 3L Two smoke-cohimns from 
the burning oil-tanks in Tsingtau can be seen in the distance 




JAPANESE STAFF OFFICKKS \ li;\\IN(i llIK 

OPERATIONS OF THE SIEGE 

On the top of Prince Heinrich Herg, a mountain 1000 feet high 



BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE 

jectured pictures of the Japanese troops mak- 
ing the general attack upon litis Fort, evi- 
dently the key to Tsingtau, while the curtain 
of the theater of war was down. 

By early afternoon the clouds lifted, how- 
ever, and with glasses we were able to distin- 
guish fresh sappings of the Japanese infantry 
nearer to the German redoubts. The Japanese 
battery, which the day before was stationed 
below us to the left, near the Meeker house, 
had advanced half a mile and was quartered 
just outside the village of Ta-Pau. Turning our 
glasses on Kiaochow Bay we discovered the 
Austrian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth missing, 
nor could a search of the shore line reveal it. 
We afterwards learned that the Germans had 
sunk the vessel in the Bay of Kiaochow early 
in the morning, after stripping it of all its use- 
ful war equipment. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE FLEET BOMBARDS THE CITY 

The fourth day of fighting at Tsingtau 
was undoubtedly the most severe of the siege. 
With two guns on litis Fort already silenced, 
and with the Japanese force pressing the Ger- 
mans hard in front of their redoubt walls, the 
Tsingtau garrison practically gave up the de- 
fense of their seacoast forts, and, with the ex- 
ception of an occasional shot from litis, the 
battleships in the Yellow Sea were free to 
bombard Tsingtau at will. 

Then it was that the Japanese, already fa- 
mous for their military science, put into use, 
probably for the first time since naval warfare 
began, the wireless, as a means of marking the 
shots from the guns at sea. At the rear of the 
Japanese lines, a naval lookout had been 
erected, and there behind a bomb-proof shelter 
were entrenched several marines with horned 
telescopes focused on the Tsingtau forts. As 
soon as a shell landed, one of the marines 

78 



THE FLEET BOMBARDS THE CITY 

would telephone the exact location of the burst- 
ing shell to the wireless station near Lauschan 
and immediately the message would be relayed 
to the warships standing out at sea. In this 
way gunners on the Japanese and British war- 
ships knew, a moment after each shot, whether 
the great shells were finding their marks in 
the German forts. As a result few shells were 
wasted. 

Well provided with maps, the gunners' officers 
could locate the spot where the shell dropped. 
If it was not a "hit," the big gun's aim would 
be changed, guided always by the wireless. 

On land, the Japanese were regulating their 
gun-fire in somewhat the same way. An ob- 
servation balloon was anchored each morning 
on the rear line, and with telephone connection 
running to every part of the field, the observers 
were able to make the gun-fire much more 
efficient. Slowly the German redoubts and 
casement walls commenced to crumple under 
the severe pounding they were receiving, and 
at the same time the zigzag lines of the Japa- 
nese saps were noticed to be continually near- 
ing the German front defense line. 

79 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Over on the extreme right, near the Bay of 
Kiaoehow, the gun-fire was extremely heavy. 
General Johoji, with General Barnardiston on 
his left, was pressing hard the entrenched 
Germans, in front of Moltke Fort. Early in the 
morning General Johoji had sent a detachment 
against the triangular pumping station fort, as 
it was deemed wise not to turn the siege guns 
on the place, because the fort might be de- 
stroyed and the supply of water be cut off in 
the city when the troops entered. The detach- 
ment approached the fort without any resist- 
ance from the Germans and surrounding it, 
discovered that there was a small garrison 
which had barred itself inside. The Japanese 
commanded the men to surrender, threatening 
to dynamite the place. The steel door was 
opened and twenty-three Germans walked out. 

The capture of this fort was the key for the 
final attack of the Japanese, as it left the cen- 
tral fort and redoubts exposed to fire. 

We had left Commanding-General Kamio 
early in the morning, after taking tea with him 
in his little dugout close to the base of Prince 
Heinrich Berg, and had started for the rear line, 

80 



THE FLEET BOMBARDS THE CITY 

there to watch the fire of the new twenty-eight 
centimeter siege guns that were just being put 
in position near the Litsun River. As we ap- 
proached the Hne Japanese batteries in our rear 
would open up and we could hear a shell go 
tearing through the air with a noise like a giant 
skyrocket. 

Through zigzag saps, ten feet deep, we crept 
along, now hugging the bank of the trench, 
with occasional stops, to make way for stretch- 
ers bearing the wounded from the front line. 
The wounded and the dead appeared the same, 
just a stretcher with its bearers, a large, heav^^ 
blood-siained canvas, with, perhaps, an arm 
dangling or a heavy boot protruding. 

We spent the whole day on the rear line, un- 
til a snowstorm, not unlike those of western 
Canada, drove us to the charcoal fire of the 
naval lookout, near by. 

Here, with telescope, were entrenched sev- 
eral marines, all seeking to mark the fire of the 
vessels in the Yellow Sea. 

Late in the afternoon the fire became ex- 
tremely heavy. The Germans seemed to be 
making sharp resistance to the Japanese, lest 

81 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

they advance within the quarter-mile zone of 
the redoubt walls. The Japanese infantry, 
however, were sapping away, and as dusk set- 
tled over the field we saw the bright flash of 
bursting shrapnel from the German forts. It 
was the first shrapnel sent out by the Germans 
during the siege. 

Ten, twelve, fifteen, and sometimes even 
twenty shrapnel shells could be counted burst- 
ing at one time, all in a straight line, over the 
Japanese front line, and then the big German 
searchlights would flash about the field. They 
would fall on fifteen or twenty Japanese sap- 
pers on the top of their trenches placing sand- 
bags, and then the flash would disappear. A 
lull for a minute and then pom-pom-pom-pom- 
pom ! the machine guns along the redoubt walls 
would open up and for fifteen minutes would 
pour shot into the fresh trenches. It was woe 
to a man in such a fire who was wounded away 
from his trench. Exposed to all guns. Red 
Cross workers would be unable to get to him 
and he would be left to die the death of a 
soldier. 

All night long the firing kept up, and for 




QUARTERS OF THE JAPANESE STAFF OFFICERS DURING 
THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE SIEGE 

Within a hundred yards of the rear line of the attacking force and the big 24- 
centinieter siege guns. The large lean-to in the foreground was the home of 
General Kamio 




GERMAN MACHINE-GT'NS ON THE REDOUBT WALLS 
OF THE TSINGTAU FORTS 

The pom-pom-pom of these guns and the shriek and whistle of shrapnel made 
a nightmare of the starlight hours during the closing days of the siege 



THE FLEET BOMBARDS THE CITY 

miles into the hinterland the ground trembled 
and echoed from the discharging guns. Tsing- 
tau was now in darkness, Japanese shells hav- 
ing disabled the electric power plant and the 
flash of the German searchlights from the forts 
was missing. Instead star-shells took their 
place, and bursting high in the heavens above 
the entrenched British and Japanese forces 
they flooded the country with daylight and 
gave a spectacular touch to the fighting. 

Thursday, November 5, seemed only a repe- 
tition of what had been witnessed the day 
before. The Tsingtau forts were a cloud of 
smoke and dust from the hundreds of shells 
that were falling upon their slopes. 

I took tea with General Kamio in the 
morning, and he told me he would notify me 
ahead of time when he would order the final 
attack on the forts, so I could witness it. 
Night, of course, was to be used to screen the 
attack, and from what I gathered from the 
staff officers' remarks, it was to be a stubborn 
affair, with, perhaps, the loss of more than an 
entire regiment — eight hundred men. 

*'0h, the Japanese are getting too impa- 
83 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

tient," said Captain Shaw, back in the British 
Red Cross camp, a few hours later. "It will be 
a shame if they make that attack, for I am go- 
ing to lose all my men if they do. And that's 
what hurts. I know all these men, I 've worked 
with the most of them for years, and they are 
all good chaps. I hate to give them up." 

In fact all the British officers at Tsingtau, 
when they heard that the Japanese staff officers 
were planning on an assault of the Tsingtau 
fortifications, were down in heart. The British 
preference was for slower and less costly meth- 
ods than those insisted upon by the Japanese 
commander. The viewpoints of the two armies 
seemed to hinge on the judgment of the profes- 
sional soldier, such as Great Britain's, and the 
soldier of conscription, as Japan's. But of the 
professional soldiers there were not and could 
not be enough. And being so few. General Bar- 
nardiston, as well as the other officers, were 
reluctant to sacrifice them. But the British 
general, being under the orders of General 
Kamio, the commander-in-chief of the invest- 
ing forces, had to abide by the plans of the lat- 
ter. Due to the lack of ammunition in Tsing- 

84 



THE FLEET BOMBARDS THE CITY 

tau, the assault, when it did take place two 
days later, did not prove so costly of life as was 
first expected. 

Late in the afternoon the Japanese blockad- 
ing fleet closed in on the southern end of the 
entrance to the Bay of Kiaochow and started 
a bombardment of the city of Tsingtau. At 
first the Tsingtau residents were unable to 
locate the source of the gun-fire as the ships 
were shielded in the sea by Cape Jaeschke. 
However, to the city itself it was the one ex- 
citing moment of the whole war. 

With shells coming right into the city front 
and around the Prince Heinrich Hotel, which 
was being utilized as a hospital, there was a 
hasty retreat for cover farther into the city. 
Every one took to the basements and there 
spent the night, in deadly fear of the large 
shells which were crashing into building fronts 
every few minutes. 

That night the Japanese forces advanced 
two hundred yards under a heavy shrapnel fire 
from the Germans. A snowstorm, followed by 
rain, had filled the trenches with water a foot 
deep, and it was in these that the Japanese and 

85 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

British forces found themselves during the 
closing day of the siege. Friday, November 6, 
was a bitter morning. A forty-mile gale was 
blowing off the Yellow Sea, and with the ther- 
mometer at two below zero it was not any too 
comfortable even for those of us who were 
fortunate enough to get near a charcoal burner. 

Out in the trenches stood the troops, in 
water over their shoetops, no overcoats, many 
without mittens, their hands on cold steel, 
without the warmth of a fire for the last three 
days, and only an extra ration of hot tea to 
keep them up. 

All day the shrieks from the shells continued, 
but when I returned to General Kamio's quar- 
ters, every one was of the opinion there would 
be only one more day of this and then the 
night attack of the infantry. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SURRENDER 

The fighting during the closing hours of 
November 6 found the Httle German garrison 
at Tsingtau pressed to their utmost resistance 
against the inevitable. For more than two 
months they had been at war with the small 
khaki-clad soldiers of the Nippon Empire, not 
with any hope of finally coming out victorious 
in the struggle, but simply to stave off the 
hour when they must lay down their guns and 
be humiliated by seeing the Rising Sun flag 
replace the banner of the Fatherland above the 
fortresses of the German protectorate. That 
hour had come. 

But twenty-five yards from the front wall 
that skirted the Tsingtau fortresses for three 
miles from the Bay of Kiaochow on the right, 
to the Yellow Sea on the left, was entrenched 
the front line of the Japanese and British expe- 
ditionary forces. Behind this line of under- 
ground fighters was another line, a third, and 

87 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

then the large, massive twenty-eight-centi- 
meter siege guns of the Japanese, which at va- 
rious intervals of the day had been hurling 
projectiles with a deafening roar, scattering 
death within the walls of the fortress as a re- 
minder to its garrison members that Germany 
must leave Asia. 

As I stood on the rear Japanese line that 
night, close to General Kamio's dugout, and 
gazed toward the German fortresses at Tsing- 
tau, the scene before me appeared much like a 
spectacular pyrotechnic exhibition. Star-shells 
continually fired from the German walls would 
burst in the heavens above and for several 
minutes would continually keep lit the field 
below. Japanese infantrymen could be seen 
outside fresh trenches placing sandbags and 
the like, and with darkness covering the field 
again there would be a few seconds of deathly 
stillness and then the machine guns along the 
redoubt walls of the Tsingtau forts would open 
up. From all about the field in front there ap>- 
peared the bright red flash of flames as field 
and siege guns went into action, and the echo 
of their deep roaring undertones would at 

88 



THE SURRENDER 

length subside into the ripping pom-pom-pom 
of the German machine guns as they at- 
tempted to check the advance of the Japanese 
sappers. 

Toward midnight, the fire from the Tsing- 
tau forts had slackened somewhat, — due, as 
afterwards learned, to the giving-out of am- 
munition supplies, — and noting this condi- 
tion of affairs. General Yamada, whose men 
were entrenched in front of Forts 2 and 3, 
sent out a detachment to learn the condition 
of the garrison opposing him. 

The men approached the redoubt walls of 
the forts, climbed down ten feet to the bottom, 
and found themselves facing wire entangle- 
ments, ten yards wide and running the length 
of the wall. No Germans were seen. Reinforce- 
ments were called for while the advance guard 
was cutting the entanglements, and by 1 a.m. 
on the morning of November 7, General Ya- 
mada with more than three hundred men was 
behind the central redoubt walls of the German 
forts. 

In the mean time, heavily protected on all 
sides by planks and sandbags, a detachment of 

89 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

two hundred Germans, with machine guns, was 
watching the approach of General Barnardis- 
ton's men, who had been stationed to the right 
of General Yamada. The Germans were una- 
ware that the Japanese had gained the wall 
when suddenly a sentry heard Japanese voices 
in the inky blackness before him and the signal 
was given. 

Rushing from their little sandbag fortress, 
the German detachment hurried in the shadow 
of the redoubt wall toward the casemate ap- 
proaches, hoping, in so doing, to reach their 
comrades stationed five hundred yards back 
along the casemate walls. Some undoubtedly 
reached their destination, but the majority of 
the men were shot down by the Japanese as 
they ran toward the approaches unconscious 
that Japanese guards were there. 

The capture of Forts 2 and 3 by General 
Yamada was quickly reported to General Hori- 
uchi, and within an hour his men had captured 
Forts 4 and 5 with little resistance. General 
Johoji, on the extreme right, with the British 
expeditionary force to his left, under General 
Barnardiston, also advanced with the news of 

90 








GERMAN BARBED- WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS 

Along the redoubt walls of the Tsingtau forts 




^^^^jjjr 



■ j^ssisSEkM:- 



(iENERAL HORIUCHl ON THE CKE>T OF Mol.TKh KURT 

He stands smiling, with a chrysanthemum, the Japanese national emblem, in 

front of him. He and his men had captured this fort 



THE SURRENDER 

the capture of the positions, but the Tsingtau 
garrison seemed to have concentrated its at- 
tack at this position and General Johoji's ad- 
vance was met with stubborn resistance. 

Utilizing the high-banked macadam road- 
way that runs from Litsun into Tsingtau as a 
cover, the British force was able to advance to 
the Tsingtau redoubt walls without suffering 
much damage, and, after tearing a hole 
through the stone guard, was able to capture 
the fort. The capture of Fort No. 1 by the 
British was closely followed by General Johoji's 
capture of the coast fort at 6.30 a.m. 

The German front and second line of defense 
was now in full retreat toward the three moun- 
tain forts, litis, Bismarck, and Moltke, about 
a quarter of a mile in the rear of the captured 
redoubt and casemate fortifications. General 
Yamashita, chief of the Japanese staff, realiz- 
ing now the weakened condition of the Ger- 
mans, ordered General Yamada and General 
Horiuchi to advance with detachments of engi- 
neers and infantrymen and to begin the general 
attack. 

After weeks in rain-filled trenches, the at- 
91 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

tacking force was only too eager to begin the 
hand-to-hand encounter that would eventually 
mean the surrender of Tsingtau, and so with 
orders given, they rushed from their trenches 
over the redoubt walls and behind the advance 
Japanese guard started their charge up the 
steep slopes of the Tsingtau mountainous for- 
tresses that rose one thousand feet high. 

With bayonets in front of them gleaming in 
the glow of the morning sun, just rising as a 
ball of fire from above the horizon of the Yel- 
low Sea, the attacking force charged up the 
slopes. Two guns on litis Fort had been si- 
lenced; the four big twenty-eight-centimeter 
mortars on the same fort were useless for work 
at the base of litis, while the other guns, mak- 
ing up the German equipment, had been so 
placed and sandbagged at the rear of the forts 
that they could not be quickly brought forward 
and utilized for work along the steep slopes 
leading to their summit. Rifles and machine 
guns were resorted to. 

The Japanese, as they charged up the slopes, 
were mowed down by the machine guns, but on 
they came from all sides — 17,000 men against 

9^ 



THE SURRENDER 

3800. The German garrison could not hold 
out and the white flag was seen suddenly to 
be hoisted from near the Governor-General 
Meyer- Waldeck's residence. The surrender 
came at 7.05 a.m. 

As the white flag struck the top of its mast 
the air about the forts was suddenly rent by 
the "banzaiing" of the victorious troops. For 
twenty minutes the cheering kept up, until at 
length it was replaced by the appearance of the 
Rising Sun flag floating from the peak of every 
fort and hill in the neighborhood. Thus had 
Germany's dream of domain in the East come 
suddenly to an end. 



CHAPTER X 

AFTER THE CITy's FALL 

Scenes of havoc met the eyes of the Japan- 
ese staff oflScers when they entered the fallen 
forts of Tsingtau. With dynamite and nitro- 
glycerine the German defenders had destroyed 
the guns and demolished all that might be 
taken by the captors as trophies of war. 
Along the casemate walls of the forts still lay 
the German and Japanese soldiers who had 
been killed in the final assault, while the 
concrete forts themselves were just a mass of 
shale and twisted steel rods where dynamite 
or falling shells had done their work. 

Into the forts the Japanese filed and, collect- 
ing all the German soldiers together in lots, 
marched them to the barbed-wire entangle- 
ments in the rear of the city and after a short 
rest took them to the foot of Prince Heinrich 
Berg, where a prison camp had been impro- 
vised. The German oflicers, however, through 

94 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

the courtesy of the Japanese commander, were 
allowed to remain in Tsingtau. 

The courtesy of the Japanese, for which the 
Orient is already famous, received an excellent 
demonstration in the surrender of Tsingtau. 
General Kamio, commander-in-chief, realizing 
that to march his victorious troops through the 
city of Tsingtau would throw the residents into 
much confusion and disorder, made the direct 
surrender appear like a capitulation on terms. 
All German officers, including Governor-Gen- 
eral Meyer-Waldeck, were allowed to go about 
Tsingtau at their freedom after the surrender, 
and General Kamio at once posted orders that 
only the Japanese staff officers would be al- 
lowed to enter the city for several days. Japa- 
nese pickets were placed along the roads out- 
side of the city to see that this regulation was 
enforced. 

For several days, then, while the Japanese 
troops were quartered in Moltke and Bismarck 
Barracks in the rear of Tsingtau, and the Brit- 
ish force was also in German barracks, the resi- 
dents of Tsingtau were given free opportunity 
to recover from their besieged life without 

95 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

being ruffled by the sight of marching and 
quartered troops. 

During that period between the surrender 
of the Tsingtau forts and November 16, when 
the British and Japanese expeditionary forces 
made their triumphal entry into the city, the 
Japanese officers busied themselves in the final 
preparations for the transfer of the German 
possessions into the hands of Dai Nippon. The 
rest of the troops spent the days in examining 
the Tsingtau forts and gradually the "why- 
fore" of their surrender was answered. 

On litis Fort were mounted six twelve-centi- 
meter guns, two of which had been captured 
from the French in the siege of Paris in 1871. 
On the left of this battery and toward the rear 
of the fort had been placed four twenty-eight- 
centimeter mortars, while two 10.5-centimeter 
guns cast in 1889, which had seen service in the 
siege of Taku in 1900, made up the remainder 
of the fort's equipment. 

Bismarck Fort, to the left of litis, seemed to 
be the most strongly fortified of any of the 
Tsingtau defenses. Besides four twenty-eight- 
centimeter howitzers and two twenty-one-cen- 

96 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

timeter guns, it contained the Tsingtau battery 
of four fifteen-centimeter guns. 

At Moltke Fort, on the bay side of the city, 
the German garrison had mounted two fifteen- 
centimeter guns stripped from the Austrian 
cruiser Kaiserin EHsabeth, a field battery of 
ten pieces, three field howitzers, and several 
small guns taken from the second-class Ger- 
man gunboats and cruisers that had been al- 
lowed to be bottled up in the Bay of Kiaochow. 

The two German forts which commanded 
the sea approaches were Huit-chien-huk and 
Tscha-nui-va. The first was equipped with 
two twenty-four-centimeter guns and three fif- 
teen-centimeter guns, while the latter's equip- 
ment consisted of two twenty-one-centimeter 
guns which had been taken from the Chinese 
Taku forts in 1900. 

The German garrison at Tsingtau at the 
opening of the war, knowing that their surren- 
der was inevitable, had made all plans to keep 
as far as possible all trophies of war from falling 
into the enemy's hands after surrender. The 
result was that early on the morning of the 7th, 
after the Japanese infantry had gained the 

97 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

redoubt walls, all preparations were made by 
the garrison for destroying the guns. 

The breech-block of each was wound with 
nitroglycerine and dynamite was placed in the 
cannons up to the muzzle edge. The white flag 
was the signal. A few minutes later, when the 
Japanese forces swarmed the forts, they found 
the place a mass of wreckage. Big twenty-four- 
centimeter guns were split in two as evenly and 
neatly as if they had been cut by a jack-knife, 
while one hundred or more yards distant could 
be found all that remained of the breech- 
block. The four twenty - eight - centimeter 
mortars on litis had been dynamited and just 
a mass of twisted steel and splintered plates 
remained. 

On Bismarck and Moltke Forts, many of the 
guns had been backed in against the sandbag 
walls and dynamited on their carriages. The 
discharge had left the place scattered with the 
broken pieces of the carriages and split sand- 
bags. The guns in the majority of cases had 
fallen down to the foot of the casemate walls. 
The explosions of the dynamite also appeared 
to have wrecked adjacent walls, for the con- 

98 




THE FOOT OF THE CASEMATE WALLS THIRTY MINUTES 
AFTEK THE SURRENDER 

Fatigued by their past tliirty-six hours of work in storming the German forts, 
the attacliing force dropped wlierever the white flag found them, and there 
they slumbered while the soldiers of the German garrison (in the background) 
smiled upon their conquerors 




THE MOLTKE BARRACKS AFTER THE SURRENDER 

Showing the effects of Japanese shrapnel. Sandbags were placed about build- 
ings in the city to keep shells from undermining them 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

Crete work about the gun-stands seemed to be 
so much shale. Exposed to sight were the steel 
pipes and wire used in the construction of the 
forts, all twisted and broken. 

This desire to keep trophies of war from the 
hands of the enemy was not confined alone to 
guns. From the various post-oflBces German 
officials gathered the colony's issue of postage 
stamps and all were burned. Men had evi- 
dently been detailed to handle the storehouses, 
for all about them I found large cans of corned 
beef, sausages, milk, saurkraut and German 
delicacies opened and lying in heaps, their 
contents untouched. 

All valuable papers in the vaults of Govern- 
ment buildings that contained military secrets 
or maps of fortifications throughout the Far 
East, were also made way with; in fact the 
German garrison left little that the Japanese 
could boast about, except the city of Tsingtau 
itself. 

As officially given out by the War Office, the 
Japanese forces had a total of 142 guns on the 
firing line. They consisted of 6 28-centimeter 
howitzers, 72 other siege guns of 15- and 24- 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

centimeters, 18 mountain guns, 36 field pieces, 
and 8 4.7 and 6-inch guns of the marine de- 
tachment. 

According to figures given me by General 
Kamio, the total active fighting force of the 
Japanese during the siege was 20,000 men, 
while the British expedition force consisted of 
925 regulars, with a regiment of 300 Sikhs. 

Opposing them was the German force of 
4500 men, more than 700 of whom were sick or 
wounded or captured before the actual siege 
started. 

Among the criticisms directed against the 
defenders of Tsingtau, which I heard after the 
surrender, especially in the British camp, was 
that the Germans fired away great quantities 
of ammunition at the beginning of the bom- 
bardment of the fortifications so that, with 
their supply exhausted, an excuse for the sur- 
render could be made. In proof of this they 
referred to the large number of shells which fell 
daily about the Japanese forces while they 
were getting the big siege guns into position. 
The estimate of " more than two thousand Ger- 
man shells in twelve hours' firing with no casu- 

100 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

allies to the Japanese or British forces," was 
further evidence given. 

On my first trip into Tsingtau I met a Ger- 
man officer in the Prince Heinrich Hotel, who 
had taken part in the siege, and questioned 
him as to the truth of the statement. 

" Maybe that is what they say, but the facts 
are the garrison had expected Tsingtau to fall 
sooner than it did. Our heavy artillery fire was 
not kept up for the purpose of throwing away 
our shells, — it would have been less dangerous 
to have dropped them in the bay, — but solely 
to do as much damage to the Japanese as pos- 
sible before the assault on the fortifications 
could be made. We regulated our fire with the 
one purpose of covering the country with shells 
before they had a chance to get under cover. 
When they attempted to mount their siege guns 
at the start of the bombardment their forces 
were exposed to us. We could see their ammu- 
nition columns and supply wagons rolling up 
on open roads and, by spreading our fire about 
the valley, we were attempting solely to post- 
pone the fall of Tsingtau as much as possible 
by hindering the allied forces in their work." 

101 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

The officer then went on to tell me of the 
ruse Lieutenant Trendel, manager of the 
Wagonlits Hotel at Peking, who took part in 
the siege, played on the Japanese. Trendel 
was in command of a battery of six old nine- 
centimeter ships' guns which were in an ex- 
posed position on a ridge near litis Fort. This 
battery received a fire from both the ship and 
land guns, and the men could be seen on the 
first day of the bombardment building bomb- 
proofs in the dust and smoke from exploding 
shells. 

In the night Lieutenant Trendel put up 
wooden guns, roughly shaped from beams, at 
a distance of two hundred yards from his own 
guns. In the morning, he exploded powder 
near them to give an appearance of firing from 
them. By his ruse he diverted the Japanese 
fire and saved all his men, dynamiting his guns 
before the surrender. 

Governor-General Waldeck, after the sur- 
render, made the following statement as to the 
bombardment: — 

The combatant force atTsingtau did not amount 
to more than forty-five hundred. The permanent 

102 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

garrison consisted of eighteen hundred men nomi- 
nally, but was, in reality, about two hundred short. 
Some of those under arms were mere boys. Each 
fort was defended by about two hundred men. 

The Tsingtau guns were mostly weapons cap- 
tured from the Boxers during their rebellion, or 
trophies of the Franco-German War, and were no 
match for modern arms. The Huichuan and Bis- 
marck Forts, however, had some modern pieces. 
Altogether there were, for the defense, about sixty 
guns and a hundred machine guns. 

The litis fort was guarded by sixty men. The 
Japanese in their assault charged up under a hot 
fire as if unconscious of their danger, and gained 
the position before the defenders could call rein- 
forcements. 

The Bismarck and Moltke Forts were also taken 
by a charge, but for the most part the Japanese 
conducted their ' attack under cover of their 
trenches, and concealed themselves so well that the 
most searching German fire could not stop their 
advance. At length the supply of ammunition ran 
out, and further defense was futile. I thought the 
Japanese casualties would be very heavy, as they 
fought bravely and charged desperately, and I esti- 
mated their loss at five to six thousand. I have 
been astonished to learn that the loss in killed and 
wounded amounts to only seventeen hundred. 
They certainly showed remarkable skill in taking 
cover. 

Tsingtau was not an ideal fortification, such as 
Antwerp. Strictly speaking, it was merely a de- 
fended position. As possible enemies in the Far 

103 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

East, Germany had calculated only on England, 
France, and Russia. It was quite unexpected that 
the blow would come from so good a friend as 
Japan. 

The fire from the Japanese squadron was not so 
furious as to cause any great inconvenience, except 
once when a shell landed in the Huichan Point 
Fort, killed thirteen and severely wounded three. 
In respect of accuracy of range the fire of the Brit- 
ish cruiser Triumph was inferior to that of Japanese 
ships. The land fire, however, was terrible. A per- 
fect rain of shells fell on the Bismarck, litis, and 
Hsiaochau Forts, and the central batteries suffered 
severely. One of them received as many as a hun- 
dred shells, and it was death to leave the trenches 
for an instant. 

Two days after the surrender I was able to 
get through the picket line thrown about the 
rear of the city of Tsingtau, and could observe 
better just what damage had been done to the 
city during the seven days of bombardment. 

The city appeared as if a typhoon had passed 
through it. Its wide asphalt and macadamized 
streets, fronted by beautiful four and five 
story buildings of German architecture, were 
vacant. Giant shells, some three feet long and 
a foot in diameter, were lying about on side- 
walk and street still unexploded. Trees, splin- 

104 



AFTER THE CITY'S FALL 

tered at their bases, lay toppled over in the 
avenues. Windows in the houses were shat- 
tered, while gaunt holes in the sides of build- 
ings, where shells had torn their way, made the 
residence blocks appear to be gasping for air. 

Out in the harbor could be seen the spars of 
the Rickmers and two or three other German 
freighters, which had been sunk at the opening 
of hostilities about the city, while farther out 
in the channel was the grave of the Austrian 
cruiser, Kaiserin Elisabeth, which had been 
sunk by the Germans. 

The whole scene seemed one of devastation. 
Streets deserted of people, show-fronts of 
stores completely gone, as was also the mer- 
chandise, harbors deserted of ships, and not 
even a sign of a ricksha to remind you of the 
Orient. 

Such was Tsingtau as I first saw it two days 
after its surrender. But for the continual sight 
of the Rising Sun flag flapping from every peak 
in the rear of the city, as well as from every 
Government building, and its message of "oc- 
cupied," one would have thought Tsingtau a 
city deserted. 



CHAPTER XI 

TAKING POSSESSION 

The transfer of Tsingtau to the allied forces 
was commenced on November 11, and, two 
days later, the majority of the German officers 
who were not needed by the Japanese in spot- 
ting the land mines were marched off to Ses- 
heco to be transported to Japan. During the 
final transfer I lingered about the field below 
Moltke Barracks, on which had gathered about 
one thousand German prisoners of war, with 
their officers. As Governor-General Waldeck 
and his officers were going through roll-call, the 
scuff-scuff-scuff sound of marching troops was 
heard along the roadway near by leading over 
a small slope. The sound of the heavy boots 
hitting the ground was shortly followed by the 
whistling of many men, and all the heads in the 
field below quickly turned toward the crest of 
the hill, where the road disappeared. 

In a few minutes they appeared in sight — 
first four bayonets, four khaki-colored helmets, 

106 



TAKING POSSESSION 

then four men, another four men — nine hun- 
dred strong, the British expeditionary force, 
marching to the German barracks, whistHng 
''Everybody's Doing It." 

At the sight the heads in the field below im- 
mediately turned toward Governor-General 
Waldeck, while the faces of neutrals on the side 
lines turned into smiles. That tune whistled by 
the Britishers evidently grated on the field 
below, and a few minutes later, when an oflScer 
shouted in German for the men to form on the 
roadway, one thousand voices burst into a 
German war song. 

I stood by the roadway as they formed; some 
with heavy packs strapped to their backs, 
others carrying accordions, mandolins, and 
guitars in their hands. As they marched by 
me, all stared. 

''English or American.''" some would ask. 

With the nod of my head to the latter they 
seemed to rest content and would pass the 
remark on to the other, "newspaperman." 

Five days later, the formal entry of the al- 
lied forces took place at Tsingtau. Following 
the review of the forces by General Kamio and 

107 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

his staff, the troops marched to the Strand on 
the Yellow Sea, where a wooden monument, 
much like Cleopatra's Needle, stood banked in 
the center of the sands. Large straw-wrapped 
casks of sake, or Japanese wine, stood on each 
side of the monument, a gift to the departed 
souls of the Japanese dead, from their Emperor 
and Empress. Heaped on top of the casks were 
thousands of cigarettes, bowls of rice, chrysan- 
themums, the national flower of the Empire, and 
many eatables much prized by the Japanese. 

After all the troops had assembled facing 
the monument. General Kamio approached it 
with a large scroll in his hand. All helmets and 
caps of the troops in front of him went off. He 
stepped on to the path leading directly to the 
monument, took off his cap, bowed, and then 
approached. Stopping within a foot of the 
monument. General Kamio bowed again, and 
then slowly opened the scroll. Not a sound 
could be heard in that gathering of thousands 
in front of the monument, except an occasional 
neigh of a cavalry horse. 

The scroll opened, he read from it in Japa- 
nese the following message to the dead: — 

108 




TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE JAPANESE ri;( Kjl'S IMd TSINGTAU 

The military attaches of the United States, Greece, Spain, and France on the 
left, in front of the Asiatic-Deutsch bank 




PAVl.Ni; RESPECT TO THE SOULS OF THE JAPANESE DEAD 
Before the monument erected on the shores of the Yellow Sea at Tsingtau 



TAKING POSSESSION 

I, the humble General Kamio, commander-in- 
chief of the Japanese forces, express my hearty 
condolences to the souls of the dead who have been 
killed in battle or who have passed away from ill- 
ness contracted during our days of war. 

My Imperial Majesty's reason for declaring war 
against Germany was because Germany had ex- 
panded her war politics to the Far East. They 
occupied Tsingtau, and forced our neighboring 
Government, China, to give it up, thus destroying 
the peace of the Far East. Our Imperial Majesty 
was therefore called upon to drive the disturbing 
element from our hitherto peaceful shores. 

I, the humble General Kamio, was appointed to 
be commander-in-chief of the allied army in its 
operation against Tsingtau. I and my staff, from 
early morning until late at night, have labored 
hard to achieve the desire of our Imperial Majesty 
and now Tsingtau is occupied by the allied army. 

Its surrender is the result of the grace of heaven, 
the virtues of our Emperor and Empress, and the 
bravery of those passed souls which we honor to- 
day. We are assembled here to comfort you, O 
souls, and I ask that you receive the condolences 
which I, representing the surviving army, give 
to you to-day. 

The rites were those of Shintoism and, as be- 
lieved, the souls of the men killed and buried 
during the war, all gathered at this monument. 
As General Kamio finished reading from the 
scroll, an aide stepped up and handed him a 

109 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

pine branch — the Japanese symbol for long 
life — and the commander-in-chief placed it 
upon the monument, bowed, and stepped 
down along the path that faced the troops. 
The impressive ceremony was over. 

The troops then returned to their quarters, 
while the ofl&cers of the Japanese and British 
forces were entertained at a banquet in Bis- 
marck Barracks. 

Tsingtau had now formally passed into the 
hands of Japan, and but two weeks later the 
British expeditionary force returned to Hong- 
kong on the Triumph, and later embarked 
again for the war in Europe. The Triumph 
proceeded to the Suez Canal, afterwards dis- 
tinguishing herself in the siege of the Darda- 
nelles, but was sunk later by the enemy's 
torpedo. 



CHAPTER XII 

SANITATION AND DISCIPLINE 

As to the military organization of the Japa- 
nese, I think the operations of their troops in 
Shantung will add little to their reputation for 
scientific work. Surely on one point — that of 
sanitation — the military attaches of Holland, 
Spain, France, Greece, and the United States, 
who were present with the Japanese army dur- 
ing their war operations, if they can speak, will 
bear me out on the point that sanitation was 
something wholly lacking in the Japanese war- 
camps. 

Military experts will tell you that in a cam- 
paign when the troops move camp, ditches 
should be dug almost before tents are pitched. 
The Japanese war-camps I found the exception 
to this rule. Even in the question of "mess 
refuse," I found upon inspection that the Japa- 
nese provided no ditches. Rivers and creeks, 
already typhoidal, were principally used as the 
dumping-grounds of camp refuse, and days 

111 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

after the camps had passed, the bivouacking 
spot would stand out as a stain upon nature: 
tin cans and rubbish all about, with old meat, 
and rice, paper, and other refuse cluttering. 

Even during my days with the Japanese 
army in the model German barracks of Moltke 
Fort, I found this same Japanese lack of sani- 
tation. Unprintable, is the way to describe the 
conditions resulting from the complaisance of 
the Japanese officers in permitting the soldier 
inmates to litter doorsteps and hallways with 
refuse. 

But this disorder of Japanese camps, not 
only applied to sanitation, but as well to the 
handling of their troops after the surrender. 

With the recent history of Japan showing 
that the little island nation goes to war at in- 
tervals of every ten years, and with its large 
army of conscription not knowing what defeat 
is, they are continuously kept under the intoxi- 
cation of victory, with the result that careless- 
ness is bred among them. 

With the surrender of Tsingtau the Japanese 
generals appeared to have lost control over 
their men. ''There was quite a little looting 

112 



SANITATION AND DISCIPLINE 

going on by the Japanese yesterday," said a 
British captain to me the day after the surren- 
der; but for the next several days when I vis- 
ited the city I found that the statement ap- 
pHed to more than "yesterday." Wherever I 
went I was met by faces of Japanese soldiers 
peering from deserted German residences. 
Upon a further inspection I found them search- 
ing through bureau drawers and going out of 
back doors with articles of various sorts. 

Not for an instant do I think the officers of 
the Japanese army allow their troops to loot, for 
I think the Japanese Empire passed that stage 
of affairs after the relief of Peking, during the 
Boxer Rebellion. But what I saw taking place 
in Tsingtau after the surrender only bears out 
the statement that the Japanese army is 
becoming careless. 

I do not think the Tokyo Government can 
dispute the point, when it accounts for the 
many deaths that occurred to its soldiers dur- 
ing the week after the surrender, from explod- 
ing land mines and the like. With practically 
every one in the war zone after the surrender 
knowing the vicinities of the dangerous mined 

113 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

ground, and with German oflScers right on the 
spot with maps showing the exact location of 
each mine, there seems very Httle excuse for 
such accidents, except as control of the army is 
lax and men are allowed to roam around at 
will. 

On November 8, I heard a rumor in Tsing- 
tau that forty Japanese soldiers and one officer 
had been killed in an explosion of a land mine 
near Moltke Fort. When I questioned Jap- 
anese officers regarding the matter, none de- 
nied that my version of the accident was 
correct. When I returned to Tokyo after the 
war I looked up the newspaper accounts to see 
if the War Office had given out anything on the 
matter, and in the "Japan Advertiser " I found 
the following: — "The following report was 
officially given out by the War Office: Ten men 
and an officer were killed in an accident at 
Tsingtau to-day." 

To be sure, it was an accident that killed the 
men, whether eleven or forty-one, but will the 
War Office deny that the men met their death 
through carelessness? There were several other 
such accidents at Tsingtau to the Japanese 

114 



SANITATION AND DISCIPLINE 

army, but there were no casualties reported in 
the British camp after the surrender, and no 
one could find a British soldier away from his 
barracks unless on picket duty along the near- 
by roads. Days afterwards there was that 
same discipline about the British barracks. 



CHAPTER XIII 

OBSERVATIONS 

To an Occidental, the most conspicuous thing 
in the surrender of Tsingtau was the total ab- 
sence of the British flag during the change of 
government. Though British soldiers were 
shoulder to shoulder with the Japanese in the 
trenches, and even though Japanese statesmen 
maintained that Great Britain had invited 
them into the war, this great opportunity in 
China, offered to Japan, appeared to require 
no credit to Great Britain or to the British 
flag. 

With the exception of the British Red Cross 
camps in Kiaochow, and the British cruiser 
Triumph, the sight of the Cross of St. George 
was totally lacking from the Far Eastern phase 
of the European war. Great Britain had been 
silenced by her obligations to her ally. General 
Barnardiston, leader of the British expedi- 
tionary force into Kiaochow, maintained sepa- 
rate staff headquarters from that of the Japa- 

116 



OBSERVATIONS 

nese commander, but always he was under the 
orders of General Kamio. 

The siege of Tsingtau marked the first time 
in the history of warfare that an army from a 
nation of the white race had united with and 
under the leadership of a nation of the yellow 
race. While Great Britain appears now from 
various quarters to have suffered somewhat in 
placing her leadership in the hands of Japan, 
the future portends similar bonds between Ja- 
pan and other nations. Recently even Gov- 
ernor-General Meyer- Waldeck has expressed 
his approval of a German alliance with Japan, 
while Petrograd has been clamoring for sev- 
eral months for a similar alliance. 

Undoubtedly the courtesy and humanitarian 
spirit displayed to the enemy by the Japanese 
during their war operations in Kiaochow have 
won the hearts of every German. \^Tiile her 
traders feel keenly the loss of Kiaochow, there 
is not that bitter feeling displayed between the 
two nations, such as Great Britain and Ger- 
many have felt in the past, and no doubt will 
continue to hold toward each other in the fu- 
ture. German residents in Japan throughout 

117 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the war were allowed to continue in business 
and were given free access to everything with- 
out hindrance and with only the usual sus- 
picion that confronts every foreigner in Japan. 
This was the spirit of Japan in the siege of 
Tsingtau. 

In fact from an Oriental standpoint the siege 
of Tsingtau will always stand out as remark- 
ably free from hatred. During the operations, 
Japanese officers sent many messages into the 
Tsingtau garrison, wishing their German friends 
and former tutors luck and safety during the 
siege. The Japanese oflScers seemed always 
courteous. They placed courtesy foremost, in- 
stead of indulging in recrimination such as usu- 
ally goes on between the Germans and British 
oJBBcers and troops. General Kamio and his of- 
ficers did not desire to humiliate the defeated 
German officers. The messages that were in- 
terchanged during the siege and afterwards 
were couched in the most courteous language, 
nor did Governor-General Waldeck and his 
staff officers lose their swords after the final 
surrender. 

At Kurume, and the other little hamlets in 
118 



OBSERVATIONS 

Japan, where the German prisoners were 
quartered after the war, every convenience 
and facility and practical freedom for prisoners 
were given the men by the Japanese. Their 
favorite brand of cigarettes, their magazines 
and newspapers, — anything they wanted was 
theirs for the asking. During day hours they 
were allowed to roam around town streets for 
exercise, go on shopping tours and the like, and 
only when some German soldiers took advan- 
tage of the freedom given them by the Japa- 
nese by escaping, did the Nippon Empire put 
a more stringent watch upon the prisoners. 

But the feeling between the Germans and 
the British after the surrender of Tsingtau — I 
could not help noticing it, for always I was 
taken for a British subject when around the 
German camps. The morning of the surrender, 
as I rode into the Tsingtau forts, German sol- 
diers stood along the casemate walls hooting 
and hissing me. Stones were thrown at my 
horse and vile epithets hurled at me, and one 
German soldier especially seemed goaded by 
my presence. Taking off his hat he shouted at 
me in a bawling voice: *' Three cheers for 

119 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Transvaal. Yes, and here is one of the Boers 
who was there." 

And then one German, in a mimicking Eng- 
lish brogue, shouted to some passing British 
troops, "Well, chaps, where will we see you in 
London?" 

"Standing outside your cell in the Tower of 
London," proudly retorted one of the British- 
ers. 

Always was it this pin-pricking of each other, 
this antagonizing, and only the presence of 
Japanese officers among the British group 
seemed to check the desire of the German and 
British soldiers to get at one another's throats. 

And even into the one or two German provi- 
sion stores at Tsingtau that were open after the 
surrender was the feeling of hatred between 
British and German carried. At the Sietas 
Plambeck store I found British and Japanese 
soldiers one day making purchases of various 
sorts. One British soldier was cursing in an 
undertone at the price of one yen he had paid 
for a can of pears, while a Japanese soldier 
was just receiving the same goods for half the 
price. 

120 



OBSERVATIONS 

In Japan's treatment of Germany and her 
subjects both England and Germany had in 
the siege of Tsingtau a fine object lesson of the 
excellent spirit of their Japanese brother. 



CHAPTER XIV 

JAPAN AND AMERICA: PEACE OR WAR? 

Practically every discussion of the rela- 
tions between Japan and the United States is 
based on a wrong assumption. It is assumed 
that the only points at issue between the two 
countries are involved in the California land 
law and the immigration question. 

If these were satisfactorily settled, we are 
told by some, all friction would disappear and 
the two countries, in their amicable relations, 
might set a good example to a warring world. 
If they are not settled, we are told with equal 
insistence, the United States may expect war 
with Japan. 

Unfortunately our relations with Japan are 
not so simple. Japan's destinies are not bound 
up in the California question. She may be 
humiliated, but cannot be harmed by all the 
laws the legislators of California or any other 
State put on the statute books. 

On the other hand, the domination of the 
122 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

Pacific and of China are projects toward which 
her statesmen have long worked, and toward 
which they have made progress. 

The United States, with strong bases in the 
Pacific, and with a long record of sincere friend- 
ship for China, stands in the way of Japan's 
ambitions. With Germany eliminated from 
the Pacific, with Russia ready and eager for a 
partition of China, with England silenced by 
her obligations to her Japanese ally, Japan 
might at once become the autocrat of the Pa- 
cific and the dominant power in China, were 
it not for the United States. 

This is the real issue between the two coun- 
tries. If there is ever a war between the two 
countries, and that appears doubtful, it will be 
because of Japan's ambitions, though legisla- 
tion such as the California land law may serve 
as a useful pretext. 

But this talk of the so-called "yellow peril," 
following the passage of the California land 
law, which first started the agitation in the 
United States of war with Japan, reminds one 
of the witchcraft scare in the New England 
States in the pioneer days of America. I be- 

123 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

lieve that the danger of war with Japan lies 
more in the bark of the agitators than in the 
question itself. 

We have seen placed on the statute books of 
Canada and Australia legislation which, as a 
barrier to the Japanese, is far more stringent 
than any acts passed by our Pacific Coast 
States. But has the reader heard any danger- 
ous controversy arising between Japanese and 
British diplomats over the subject, or has 
there been any talk of Great Britain and Japan 
going to war because of such legislation? 

No; because Great Britain has recognized 
Japan by its Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It is 
recognition from the Powers that Japan pri- 
marily wants — not emigration. The Japanese 
Government knows that the *'all in all" ques- 
tion of its future is not bound up in the emi- 
gration of its citizens to the United States, 
there to take up their life residence, to rear 
their families and to become American citizens. 
But it does know that in the heterogeneous 
condition of the Far East it must solidify its 
colonies if it does not intend to see them rise in 
revolt and break away from the present Gov- 

124 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

ernment. Emigration to America, Canada, 
or Australia will not bring about this desired 
condition for the Japanese Government, but 
emigration into her own colonies will. 

Until twenty years ago the Japanese Empire 
consisted of one people and peace reigned su- 
preme. Since then the Empire has acquired 
Formosa, Manchuria, the Liao-tung Peninsula, 
and Korea, and with the additional territory 
has come much turmoil in the colonial posses- 
sions from the contact of the Japanese with the 
natives. It has been a difficult question for the 
Japanese Government to solve, how best to 
link its added territory to the main empire; and 
the only practical solution of the matter has 
been emigration, sending its citizens from the 
main islands into Formosa and Korea, there to 
establish themselves in business and intermarry 
with the natives. In this way the foreigners 
would amalgamate in time with the Japanese. 

But when it came to the emigration of its 
citizens, there was always the United States 
offering more opportunity than the Japanese 
Government could offer, and the natural trend 
was toward America. 

1^ 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Since the first outbreak of the CaHfornia 
question, the Japanese Government has real- 
ized its mistake, and is now bending all efforts 
to make its possessions in China and about the 
Yellow Sea attractive enough to draw citizens 
of Japan into Japanese possessions rather than 
to America. 

At present the Government has been meet- 
ing with much opposition in its immigration 
plans, for the Koreans as well as the natives of 
Formosa have a bitter hatred for the Japanese 
and trouble is met with once the peoples in- 
termingle. With China still much of an enigma, 
and with its dissolution as a nation seemingly 
close at hand, much depends upon Japan's 
ability to solve her emigration question if 
she wishes successfully to accompHsh her 
continental expansion in Asia and in the Pa- 
cific. 

But during the present century, while Japa- 
nese emigration has been going on, and the 
Japanese war scare has been making the 
rounds of America, Japan has advanced, from 
being regarded by Europe as on the same level 
with China, to being a first-class Power, allied 

126 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

with Great Britain, and consulted by all 
nations in matters affecting the Far East. 

To the Japanese the California land law ap- 
pears to be a refusal to recognize them as a 
first-class nation, because our Government has 
provided nothing to offset that opinion. Great 
Britain, however, while she, too, has been en- 
acting California legislation in her colonies 
against the Japanese, has shown that she har- 
bors nothing against them as a nation by sign- 
ing the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 

Every foreigner who resides in Japan soon 
comes to learn that the Japanese are super- 
sensitive. Failure to show little courtesies, 
which the foreigner would pass by with hardly 
a notice, strikes deep into the heart of the 
Oriental. For example, on September 8, 1914, 
in Yokohama, a Japanese killed his friend 
while passing him in front of the Yokohama 
Law Court, simply because the latter did not 
salute him with *' ohayo " (good-morning) . The 
accused man was perfectly sober at the time 
of his act, but his sensitiveness would not per- 
mit his passing by his friend's lack of courtesy 
without some notice of the fact. 

127 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

And so it is with America's Japanese prob- 
lem. We have struck deep into the heart of the 
Japanese by seemingly refusing to recognize 
them. They will remember the action, which 
to them appears as an insult, until America — 
not Japan — does something to wash out the 
ill-feeling naturally resulting. 

"I come now to the last important point de- 
manding attention," writes Count Okuma, 
aged Japanese statesman, in his recent book, 
"Fifty Years of New Japan." *'I mean our 
aspiration to be recognized by the world as a 
great nation. There is nothing strange in the 
demand that our people should be accorded 
the treatment due to their greatness as a 
Power, not merely in the Orient, but in the 
whole world." 

With reference to the California question he 
says: "I am well aware that behind this anti- 
Japanese sentiment there exist various circum- 
stances which deserve consideration. However, 
in so far as our people are disliked because they 
are Asiatics, there is nothing reasonable or log- 
ical in their hostile feeling. To reason against 
and to remove these prejudices and misconcep- 

128 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

tions is a mutual duty devolving as much on 
our people as on the Western nations con- 
cerned." 

It is probably true that there are many 
Americans who dislike the Japanese because 
they are Asiatics, but these are in the minority; 
their bark carries with it no bite. On the other 
hand, the broad-minded men of both Japan 
and the United States realize that, underlying 
the California legislation against the Japanese, 
there are conditions which are proper for Cali- 
fornia to take note of. The work has been 
poorly done. 

The average American and Japanese public 
have a misconception of the California legisla- 
tion. It has a larger significance than just the 
question of admitting the Japanese. If the 
United States should admit the Japanese to 
immigration to this country, what point could 
you bring out in the Japanese as possible citi- 
zens that you could not find in the Chinese or 
in the Hindu? 

In fact, the California action is not aimed 
directly at the Japanese, though the latter may 
believe the opposite and feel the sting of it 

129 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

more sharply because their name is carried in 
the acts of legislation. No, the action is an 
indirect barrier to the immigration of any Asi- 
atics to America! True it is, there is already a 
federal regulation against the immigration of 
the Chinese into this country, but it is mainly 
because of economic reasons, as is also the bar 
against the Japanese. Nevertheless, a great 
friendship exists between the United States 
and China, the same as there should exist be- 
tween Japan and this country, and will exist as 
soon as America recognizes Japan satisfactorily 
as a Power. 

The wholesale immigration of the Japanese 
into this country, however, would not bring 
this condition about. With the Japanese, as 
Count Okuma points out in his book, " unmor- 
ally developed" in business and in other ways, 
the immigration of the Japanese into this coun- 
try would only result in the country being 
thrown into an economic disorder which in all 
probability would bring out serious trouble 
between the two nations. 

Since Japan's stimulation of emigration to 
her own colonies of late, the Japanese war scare 

130 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

in America has been gradually subsiding, but 
jingo press artists from time to time continue 
to heap coal on the dying fire by spreading 
broadcast the untruthful report that the Japa- 
nese are landing troops on the shores of Turtle 
Bay in Southern California or in some other 
section of the Americas. 

In speaking of the improved situation exist- 
ing between the United States and Japan, 
Count Okuma said in April, this year: — 

Practically all of the friction that has arisen in 
America has grown out of one phase or another of 
the immigration question. That situation is im- 
proving somewhat and is one that I hope time will 
solve satisfactorily to both countries. It is a ques- 
tion which from its nature requires time for solution. 

The United States has had other such questions 
with other nations, which have always been solved 
by time, and so I hope for a similar solution of this 
question. There are now about eighty thousand 
Japanese in the United States — that is, in the 
mainland territory — and as many, or perhaps a 
few more, in Hawaii. 

This is a smaller number than were in the United 
States at the time the so-called gentlemen's agree- 
ment was concluded. Since that time more Japa- 
nese have come home from the United States than 
have gone there and the number in your country 
has been steadily reduced. 

131 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

This reduction has been slow, it is true, owing to 
the fact that a good many Japanese in America get 
married and the birth of children tends to keep up 
the total number of Japanese there. But the influx 
of Japanese has been practically stopped and there 
is a gradual but steady reduction going on. 

There is no real ground for apprehension, no 
real cause for alarm in the relations existing 
between the United States and Japan. I do not 
believe that Japan has, or ever had, any desire 
of warring with the United States. For eco- 
nomic reasons alone this appears to be true. 
Japan has not as yet recovered from her Rus- 
sian war. Not one cent of the debt incurred in 
waging that conflict has yet been paid, and 
since that time the war operations at Kiaochow 
have indebted the Government still further. 
Further acquisition of territory necessitating 
large expenditures to the Government in its 
upkeep, both in Manchuria and Korea as well 
as in Kiaochow, have stripped the Japanese 
Treasury. 

During that period the United States has 
been Japan's best customer. We have pur- 
chased raw silk and tea to the extent annually 
of more than sixty million dollars, and in so 

132 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

doing have kept many thousands of people in 
Japan in employment in this trade. If war was 
to be declared between the two countries, this 
trade would come to a standstill, the Govern- 
ment would lose this income. Great Britain 
could not be used as the market for the once 
American tea-trade, for England has culti- 
vated a taste for the better class of teas, either 
Indian or Chinese. Nor would England take 
up the importation of Japanese raw silk 
dropped by America, because they have found 
the Chinese silk more stable. 

But the real question existing between Japan 
and the United States, is the attitude of the 
two Governments toward China. On this point 
rests the only true apprehension for fear of 
a war. Count Okuma, and other Japanese 
statesmen, know that in the California immi- 
gration question there are good points to be 
stated for both sides, and they realize that time 
alone can settle the matter in the peaceful way 
they are desirous that it shall be settled. In the 
question of China, however, the situation is 
more serious. 

The United States is known among the 
133 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Powers as the true friend of China. It is a 
friendship not founded on petty jealousies or 
with any ulterior or base motive. It is a friend- 
ship always backed by friendly action of aid 
and guidance. Against the United States in 
this respect have stood out Russia and Ger- 
many, eager for China's partition, France, and 
Japan, with a dream of controlling China all for 
herself. And that is where the crux of Ameri- 
can-Japanese relations lies to-day. It is the 
situation pending in Peking, as to whether or 
not the United States will attempt to interfere 
or block Japan's designs upon China, that lends 
the biggest support to this war talk between 
Japan and America. 

In Japan this year, when her position toward 
China took on an ultimatum in the form of a 
series of demands, there arose among her prom- 
inent thinkers a cry, in answer to the protests 
of prominent Americans and Britishers, that 
Japan in these demands was only trying to 
formulate a Monroe Doctrine for Asia. From 
this there came forward a group of Americans 
who advocated that the United States should 
not interfere in any way with the Japanese 

134 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

demands upon China lest it should prove dan- 
gerous to our own Monroe Doctrine. 

" If Japan's only idea is to build up an Asiatic 
Monroe Doctrine,'* said Dr. Shailer Mathews, 
Dean of the University of Chicago, in March, 
after an eight weeks' American peace propa- 
ganda in Japan, "the American people can 
hardly fail to sympathize with her, particularly 
as we recall her need for territory in which to 
expand." 

It is my belief that the Japanese demands 
upon China have nothing of Monroe doc- 
trinism in them. They are simply aggressive 
measures forced upon China by Japan in an 
opportunity to realize her ambition for the 
domination of China, while the other Powers 
warring in Europe have their hands tied and 
cannot interfere. 

The United States should not interfere, say 
many eminent Americans. Japan is only for- 
mulating a Monroe Doctrine in Asia. 

But is she.^ Has our own Monroe Doctrine 
any imperialistic clauses like the following 
demands that Japan submitted to China .^^ 



135 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

China to purchase from Japan at least half of 
the arms and ammunition required by the whole 
country. 

In regard to South Manchuria and East Mon- 
golia, the railroads in this region to be exclusively 
under Japanese control for ninety-nine years, and 
no citizens or subjects of other countries to be 
allowed to build railroads or to make loans in this 
region without the consent of Japan. 

Japanese capital to be employed for the develop- 
ment of the Province of Fukien. 

In the Yangtze basin, Japan to have absolutely 
exclusive mining rights, and to be allowed to con- 
struct and control the main trunk lines from Cen- 
tral China to the coast and to the south. 

Reducing China to a mere vassalage, threat- 
ening her very integrity, barring all foreigners 
but Japan, and closing the open door — all 
this Japan seeks in her demands upon China, 
and yet some Americans turn around and say, 
*' Japan is following our Monroe Doctrine in 
Asia." I fail to see the similarity between 
Japan's policy and that doctrine laid down by 
our own President Monroe. 

But what will be the result if the Japanese 
demands upon China prove successful .^^ Mil- 
lions of Chinese, chafing under the yoke of 
Japan, — a yoke which they never wanted, 

136 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

which they disHke, which language and even 
rehgion separates them from. Sections of 
China will become a second Formosa, a second 
Korea, with Japanese armed guards standing 
about to keep the country from revolt. Will 
such conditions go on forever? I ask you, did 
they in Poland, did they in Alsace-Lorraine, in 
Trieste.'^ All these last-named were founda- 
tion causes for the European war, and do you, 
as a peace-lover, want to see another Poland 
question and its like creep into Asia — later 
to take form in a giant holocaust in which the 
nations of the yellow race as well as nations of 
the white will participate? 

That is the serious side of the American- 
Japanese relationship question. Will it become 
necessary for the United States to interfere in 
the Japanese demands? 

Luckily there are other Powers, such as 
Great Britain and France, who are interested 
in the Japanese demands, and both will have 
some restraining influence upon the Nippon 
Government in the final negotiations at Pe- 
king. Undoubtedly Japan will see that any 
demands tending toward shutting the open 

137 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

door in China any further than has already 
been done in Manchuria, will bring a strong 
protest from Great Britain and the United 
States. In such a case, if any friction should be 
developed between the two Powers and Japan 
over the question, it would probably tend toward 
a serious break between the United States 
and Japan, once the opportunity offered itself. 

Germany's interference, together with that 
of France and Russia in the Treaty of Shim- 
onoseki, whereby Japan was deprived of her 
spoils of the Chinese War, — the Liao-tung 
Peninsula, — is proof of this. Though Ger- 
many and Japan were in cordial relations at 
the time, though Germany tutored and brought 
the Japanese military establishment to its pres- 
ent first-class standing, Japan never forgot the 
Shimonoseki incident. Later, in August, 1914, 
Japan took the opportunity to avenge herself 
upon Germany. 

But the United States has made clear to 
Japan, as well as to the other Powers, her pol- 
icy toward China. Since Japan recognized that 
policy, her own policy toward China has been 
constantly undergoing shifts of position and 

138 



JAPAN AND AMERICA 

policy, until to-day, the American policy ap- 
pears as a check to her desires. This injection 
of a disturbing element in the question of 
China by Japan causes both nations to become 
uneasy, and each suspects the other of bellicose 
designs against it as a result. 

However, our attitude toward Japan is not 
bellicose. America has been somewhat awak- 
ened by the catastrophe that has befallen 
Europe, and she is naturally uneasy with the 
thought that some day, too, she may be in- 
volved in some such diplomatic planning as 
Europe witnessed in July and August which 
will turn her territory into turmoil. The na- 
tural result is to make military preparations to 
check such a tendency of affairs. But the senti- 
ment, so necessary in Congress for taking these 
precautions, takes on such white heat that 
accusations are frequently made that Japan 
has bellicose designs upon America and we 
must prepare for them. 

No such thing. Japan is fully aware that she 
has not the money or a cause successfully to 
wage war against the United States. Nor could 
she hope to gain anything by so doing. 

139 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

With a population of 50,000,000 people liv- 
ing on a group of islands about the size of the 
State of Montana, Japan is only looking for- 
ward to her future when she attempts to push 
her domains on to the continent of Asia. When 
she arose in 1905 as one of the first-class Pow- 
ers, she discovered that Great Britain, Ger- 
many, Russia, and the remainder of the larger 
nations, had already played their game of grab, 
and the practice of foreign expansion was 
about at a standstill. 

Nevertheless, realizing the unstable position 
of China, Japan stood guard at the door of 
Asia, and at the first sign of trouble from the 
nations within — Britain's war against Ger- 
many — she found an opportunity to get her 
much-desired Asiatic spoils through the Anglo- 
Japanese Alliance. 

As to the California immigration question — 
time alone will settle it satisfactorily both for 
Japan and the United States. But in Japan's 
ambitions in China and in the American atti- 
tude toward the Celestial Kingdom, there 
alone lies the danger of war between Japan 
and America. 



CHAPTER XV 

BUSHIDO VS. GREAT BRITAIN 

There is in Japan the lofty moral code of 
*'bushido" or "the way of the warrior." The 
cherry blossom being, in the estimation of the 
Japanese, the purest and noblest among flow- 
ers, so the bushi, or warrior, is the purest and 
noblest among men. Wherever you go in 
Japan you hear prominent officials of the Mi- 
kado Empire refer to the bushido, this spirit, 
which, as they say, has played such an impor- 
tant part in the education, guidance, and train- 
ing not only of the soldier and other individuals 
of Japan, but of the nation as well. 

To have lived in Japan, to have worked 
among her people, bivouacked with her army, 
and to have resided among them in peace and 
in war, leads one to believe that there is very 
little in this far-famed bushido spirit of the 
Japanese. 

As I sat one day on the beach of Lauschan, 
the base of supplies for the Japanese army in 

141 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Shantung, and watched hundreds of Chinese 
coolies ranging from young boys of fourteen 
years old to men of forty and fifty years of 
age, filing to and fro, carrying large, heavy 
crates on their bare backs, and with Japanese 
soldiers snickering and laughing as they beat 
them over the head and on the legs with thick 
bamboo sticks, I commenced to wonder what 
there was in this so-called spirit of bushido, — 
this "way of the warrior," which is heralded all 
over the world as the fine, courteous, and 
manly spirit of the Japanese that has been so 
great a factor in bringing them into the lime- 
light the last twenty years. 

My residence in Japan, preceding that inci- 
dent, had shown me that bushido certainly 
was not in daily practice about the cities and 
hamlets of Dai Nippon; at least my eyes had 
proved it otherwise. I wondered why it was 
that eminent writers of America and Great Bri- 
tain had heralded this bushido spirit of the 
Japanese with so much praise and gratitude. 
Surely, the chivalry of the West, the code of 
the Occidental, is far more praiseworthy than 
that of the spirit of bushido, the Japanese code 

142 



BUSHIDO V8. GREAT BRITAIN 

of ethics. The Occidental, at least, considers it 
a duty to respect women, and his Government 
does not foster the concubinage system, nor 
does it have in its Government a cabinet 
known among the people as "the virtuous cab- 
inet," such as the present Okuma Cabinet of 
Japan, so designated because preceding cabi- 
nets have been morally rotten. The chivalry of 
the West does not recognize a father who dissi- 
pates his wealth, and then turns his daughters 
out upon the streets to sell their chastity to pay 
his debts; but all this is allowable in Japan, 
this land of the bushido spirit. 

And as I sat on the beach at Lauschan and 
watched the Chinese coolies working as hard 
and as fast as their strength would permit, in 
deadly fear of the soldiers standing about, I 
wondered why it was that Japanese soldiers 
stood along the line and beat them with sticks. 
I concluded, after an hour's observation of the 
sight, that it was just the tactics of a bully; 
the stronger showing his strength to the weaker 
brother in order that the latter would more 
readily understand who was boss. 

Throughout my days with the Japanese 
143 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

army in Shantung I found this constant nag- 
ging of the Chinese native by the soldiers of 
bushido. Sometimes it took the form of several 
Japanese pouncing upon a Chinese street ped- 
dler and robbing him of his wares; other times 
it was some soldier entering the house of a 
native, taking some piece of beautifully carved 
furniture, to be carted later into camp and 
utilized as firewood. 

And then there was Japan's violation of 
China's neutrality, her occupation of western 
Shantung, and the ultimatum of "twenty-one 
demands" upon China, an uncalled-for pro- 
cedure. 

There is one nation, however, that is going 
to meet this spirit of bushido within the next 
ten or fifteen years, and that nation is none 
other than Great Britain. Already Britain's 
commercial interests are choking under the 
yoke of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and with 
the Japanese even talking commercial invasion 
of the Yangtze valley, a British sphere of 
influence in China, it is wondered just how 
many years it will take for the friction that 
is now developing between the Japanese and 

144 



BUSHIDO vs. GREAT BRITAIN 

British interests to lead to something more 
serious. 

Japan does not always apply a lofty moral 
code to her business. A few months' residence 
in the islands will prove this point satisfacto- 
rily. But from a Government standpoint, no 
nation will feel the Japanese business methods 
so quickly as will Great Britain. In fact the 
Foreign Office at London is probably a bit 
wiser on Japanese methods now than it was 
in 1911, when it signed the Anglo- Japanese 
Agreement. Perhaps this in part can account 
for the delayal of the publication by the 
Government in London of the book giving all 
the cablegrams and official messages that 
passed between Tokyo and London immedi- 
ately before the Japanese participation in the 
European war. The Foreign Office under Sir 
Edward Grey has seen that copies containing 
the official messages that were exchanged be- 
tween Belgium, France, Russia, and Turkey 
have been forwarded to every city of the world, 
outside of the German possessions, that boasts 
of a newspaper office. I have wondered just 
why a Government account, officially stating 

145 



THE FALL OP TSINGTAU 

the reasons for Japan's participation in the 
European war under the British Alliance, has 
never been published. Certainly Great Britain 
cannot say that Japan's joining the war was 
not as important as that of Turkey, or any 
other country. 

There were many hitches and much wrang- 
ling between British officials and Japanese offi- 
cials that first week in August when Japan, 
while Great Britain was still aroused from the 
shock of Germany's violation of Belgium's neu- 
trality, asked London that she be allowed to 
drive Germany from Kiaochow, under the 
Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The Government 
business of Great Britain was more than 
crowded then with the mobilization and final 
preparations for her troops' invasion of conti- 
nental territory. And it was while Great Brit- 
ain's hands were practically tied at home with 
the worries and rush of events in Europe that 
Japanese diplomacy succeeded in putting 
through a move — her dream for years — an 
important domination of China. Undoubtedly 
Great Britain regrets it all, certainly her com- 
mercial interests do. 

146 



BUSHIDO vs. GREAT BRITAIN 

"Oh, the Anglo- Japanese AlHance; it's done 
everything for Japan and nothing for Great 
Britain," was the way one prominent British 
exporter in Yokohama put the matter to me. 
True, from a governmental standpoint it was 
the pretext used by Japan for driving Germany 
from Asia. But it is a question whether in the 
long run it has not been detrimental to British 
interests. 

Until the present time British interests have 
dominated in the Far East. With her vast ter- 
ritory of India in Asia, the most important 
colonial possession she has, Great Britain 
wielded a leadership in the Far East that was 
felt from Persia to Japan. In banking, her 
Hongkong and Shanghai banking corporation, 
supported by the Chartered Bank, became the 
leading financial institution in the Far East. 
Though Japanese banks have been rising rap- 
idly to importance, the British still control the 
large business interests in the Orient. 

In shipping and trade, Great Britain is still in 
the front rank in Asia, but with the stupendous 
growth of Japanese commerce under able 
Government subsidy it is not known how long 

147 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

this condition will remain. Japan's nearness to 
Asiatic markets and her cheap wage scale will 
play an important part in the increase of her 
trade and commerce, and with Germany now 
eliminated from Asia, it is expected Japan will 
make a strong bid for a part of that trade. 

With the Tokyo Government in possession 
of Kiaochow, Japan will have a foothold in 
China on which to base her trade propaganda 
on a more extensive scale. Possibly she may 
make of it a second Manchuria for her trades- 
people. While her diplomats shout the open- 
door policy to the world, the Government 
furnishes rebates to its shippers, and slowly 
Japanese trade will come to the front as it 
has in Manchuria. 

And it is these not too honest methods of the 
Japanese that are raising the ire of the British. 
Only last July the Shanghai branch of the 
China Association, composed of the most 
prominent British subjects in China, called a 
meeting to discuss the trade methods of 
Britain's ally. 

"Gentlemen," read the chairman's report at 
the meeting, "if the Japanese competition is 

143 



BUSHIDO vs. GREAT BRITAIN 

strenuous because of improvements of their 
yarn and in packing, etc., we as Britishers 
ought to be able to stand the strain, and I 
have every confidence that we can do so; but 
if Japanese competition is to be reinforced 
by preferential rates of duty and preferential 
freights, we must protest and protest all the 
time and continue protesting until we can ob- 
tain a fair field and an equal opportunity for 
all." 

In the one example of the sale of cotton 
goods to China, Japan during the last five 
years has cut into the trade of both Great 
Britain and the United States. In 1909, the 
British sold to China 10,690,000 pieces, the 
United States 3,850,000 pieces, and Japan 
1,390,000 pieces of cotton goods. In 1913, 
Great Britain still led the field with the sale of 
11,700,000 pieces; the Japanese came next with 
5,710,000, while the sales from the United 
States had dropped to 2,280,000. 

But the Japanese trader is a seeker after new 
fields. He is not content to develop his trade 
in his own sphere of influence, but will even 
wage war in the zones of other Powers. Just 

149 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

before the opening of hostilities in Europe in 
July, Count Okuma, in an address in Tokyo, 
stated that he thought the time had come for 
the extension of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance 
to an economic alliance as well. He thought 
that Great Britain and Japan should cooperate 
in extending their trade throughout China and 
Asia, and only a few days later, the Premier's 
emissary to China, Baron Shibusawa, one of 
the most successful business men in Japan, said 
in an interview in Shanghai: "For the develop- 
ment of a country there are necessary three 
economic factors: resources, capital, and the 
knowledge and experience of men. China has 
many resources to be developed; the British 
have the capital, and the Japanese the knowl- 
edge and experience. There should be an eco- 
nomic cooperation." 

*'I recognize the importance of the British 
influence in the Yangtze valley," said Baron 
Shibusawa. "Each of the allies should, how- 
ever, concede something to the other, for if not, 
a conflict of interest will take place." 

The Yangtze valley, with Shanghai at its 
mouth and Hankow, six hundred miles farther 

150 



BUSHIDO vs. GREAT BRITAIN 

inland, has long been recognized as the British 
sphere of influence in China. It is one of the 
richest valleys in the Celestial Kingdom, and it 
is not to be expected that British tradespeople 
in China look with any degree of delight upon 
Japan's aims to utilize her alliance with Great 
Britain as a factor in building up her com- 
merce. 

On these accounts friction is developing in 
the Far East between the British subject and 
the Japanese, and it is wondered whether 
Japan may not come out as leader in the Far 
East as a result of the European struggle. 

It appears that the most influential factor 
that this question rests on is the military and 
naval strength of the two nations. Great 
Britain, at the close of the great war, will find 
thousands of her best-trained military men 
killed on the battlefields of Europe. In numeri- 
cal strength she will probably be on a par with 
Japan, but the latter will have an advantage in 
her homogeneous force. Japan has no Indian 
regiments, no Canadian or Australian contin- 
gent to swell the strength of her army. Her 
soldiers are nearly all veterans of the Russian 

151 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

war and her latest recruits have tasted war in 
the siege of Tsingtau. Her spirit is unified, and 
it is doubtful whether the mixed regiments that 
Great Britain will have are superior to the 
fighting force of Japan. Of the navies of the 
two nations Great Britain leads. 

But events as they are happening in the Far 
East point to the end of the Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance upon the expiration of the present 
treaty in 1921. Other nations are clamoring to 
take the place of Great Britain in such alliance 
with Japan, not because they are pro- Asiatic 
in spirit, but because they want to weaken 
the power of Great Britain in order that they 
may further their own cause in the Far East. 
Japan, it is believed, is only too glad to 
accept some such proposal, for bushido, the 
way of the warrior, is not finding a welcome 
among British subjects. Is the time coming 
when Japan's late enemies, Russia and Ger- 
many, will be in league with the land of the 
Rising Sun, aiding them to drive Great Bri- 
tain from the Far East? 



CHAPTER XVI 

WHAT GERMANY DID IN KIAOCHOW 

There have been few colonial ventures, such 
as Kiaochow, which have been blessed with 
such a fairy godmother as the Berlin Reichstag. 
During the seventeen years of occupation of 
the protectorate by Germany, no less than 
$60,000,000 was showered on this Far Eastern 
naval base. Most of this expenditure went into 
docks, harbor improvements. Government 
buildings, schools, macadam roads, and the 
like, and though Germany has since been 
forced to surrender all this magnificent work, 
the Tsingtau of 1914 will clearly stand out in 
the memory of its visitors and Far Easterners 
as the finest, the prettiest, most modern and 
sanitary city in the Orient. 

Germany at Kiaochow possessed two assets 
unequaled in the whole of Asia — one in the 
Bay of Kiaochow, and the opportunity it of- 
fered for a fine harbor near its entrance, and 
the other the climate of which the whole of 

153 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the Shantung Peninsula was able to boast. 
Perhaps in no other section of Asia is the cli- 
mate so suited to the foreigner as that of Kiao- 
chow, for, situated in about thirty-six degrees 
north latitude, which is about on an equality 
with the southern Azores and Gibraltar, it is 
noted in China for the mild temperature that 
prevails in the district practically throughout 
the year. 

It did not take the Berlin Government long 
to utilize these two points in making Tsingtau, 
the capital of their new colony, the finest in the 
Orient. Scarcely before the terms of the Kiao- 
chow Convention had been drawn up, trans- 
ports and freighters were on their way from 
German ports to Shantung with lumber and 
other materials for setting up a model little 
European city. Along with them came all the 
best that Germany could give in geologists, 
engineers, and railroad constructors. In the 
short period of twelve months, the hills in the 
rear of Tsingtau were echoing with the chugs 
from the steam dredges working away on the 
bottom of the bay, and with the clatter of 
hammers from the fast-rising buildings about. 

154 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

* For months and months the Germans la- 
bored hard to develop this harbor in Kiaochow 
Bay. The channel was at length cleaned out to 
permit the safe passage of the largest ship 
afloat, and the dredging work was then ex- 
tended toward the construction of an outer 
and inner harbor at Tsingtau. At length the 
work was completed at an expense exceeding 
$7,000,000. Under the eyes of Prince Henry, 
the Kaiser's brother, and commander of the 
German squadron that rode at anchor in the 
Bay of Kiaochow, this German naval base had 
become a reality. 

The completion of the harbor work was fol- 
lowed by the erection of great granite piers and 
moles, so arranged that goods could be trans- 
ferred directly from the railroad which was 
being proposed for construction into the hin- 
terland. Military warehouses, foundries, ma- 
chine shops, and electric power plant were then 
built, together with a floating dry dock capable 
of lifting the biggest dreadnought on the seas. 
Kiaochow was then ready to offer the best 
shipping facilities of any port on the China 
coast. 

155' 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

With the final platting of the city of Tsing- 
tau and with many of the governmental build- 
ings that were to shelter the Government offi- 
cials well under construction, Berlin turned 
attention to other propositions for developing 
the new colony. The attention of German cap- 
italists was called to the wealthy province of 
Shantung, and on June 1, 1899, land opera- 
tions at Kiaochow were stimulated by the 
formation in Berlin of the Shantung Railway 
Company. 

On the same day this syndicate obtained the 
license for mining in Shantung, whereby the 
harmony necessary for the economic develop- 
ment of the protectorate was assured. The 
company, which was incorporated with a capi- 
tal of 54,000,000 marks, at once began the 
work of constructing a railroad from Tsingtau 
to Tsinan-fu, the capital of the province of 
Shantung, via Wei-hsien. The grading for the 
roadbed of the railroad began on September 
23, 1899, at Tsingtau and Kiaochow, when His 
Royal Highness, Prince Henry, turned the first 
sod. The road, which was to be a single track, 
standard-gauge line, was rushed to completion 

156 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

with more than twenty-five thousand laborers 
employed, and by April 8, 1901, the first sec- 
tion of seventy -four kilometers to the town of 
Kiaochow was opened to traffic. Only sixteen 
months later the whole line from Tsingtau to 
Tsinan-f u, as well as a branch line from Chang- 
tien to the mining district of Poshan, was 
opened for freight and passenger traffic. 

With Shantung now open to traffic and set- 
tlement, trade suddenly began springing up 
between the native and the German represen- 
tatives. So pleased seemed the Reichstag over 
this turn of events that more coin was heaped 
upon the Kiaochow venture, and it was de- 
cided to cement a strong bond of friendship 
between their representatives and the Chinese. 
In this one instance the German Government 
invited the Chinese customs officials to func- 
tion at Tsingtau under much the same rights 
and privileges as a German custom-house. 

"The principal object of this arrangement," 
said Mr. Ohlmer, for long the Commissioner of 
Customs at Tsingtau, "was the creation and 
promotion of trade and commerce between the 
city and the Chinese hinterland. The results 

157 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

conclusively proved the wisdom of this novel 
arrangement. Under it, trade developed be- 
yond expectation, and Tsingtau, the former 
dilapidated fishing village, grew into a hand- 
some city with a flourishing mercantile commu- 
nity, and a considerable number of manufac- 
turing establishments. Its success emboldened 
the Government to agree to go a step farther 
and to arrange for the limitation of the free 
area, which formerly comprised the whole dis- 
trict, to the harbor, on much the same lines 
as at the German free ports, Hamburg and 
Bremen." 

"The chief advantage of this step," said Mr. 
Ohlmer, *'lay in the removal of customs con- 
trol from the railway stations to the free area, 
and the consequent freedom of goods and pas- 
sengers to pass in and out, from and to the 
hinterland, without hindrance and control of 
any kind — a traflSc simplification from which 
a considerable increase of trade was expected. 
The expectation was realized, for the new ar- 
rangement inspired confidence and stability 
in the future of the port and in attracting 
artisans, traders, and wealthy Chinese firms, 

158 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

which last, hitherto dealing with Chefoo, until 
then kept aloof from the place." 

In this way did Germany firmly establish 
itself among the Chinese, and with the embers 
of the Boxer Rebellion fast dying out, and the 
constant fear of the Celestial Kingdom at the 
rise of the Russian Government on its northern 
border, the two peoples seemed gradually to 
come together. Germany furthered the cause 
by sending to Kiaochow horticultural experts 
and scientists to aid the Chinese in their work 
of reclaiming Shantung, from which centuries 
before had spread China's religion, culture, 
and education. 

The soil of the German protectorate, consist- 
ing as it did of granite rock and deposits of its 
decomposition, was found to be rich in potash, 
and with this as an inducement Germany set 
about to discover some means of reforesting 
the colony, something which all the Powers 
had tried a hand at in other sections of China 
with not much success. Park and experimental 
stations were platted and set with many of the 
Oriental trees and shrubs, as well as those 
imported from the fatherland, and under the 

159 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

guidance of the horticultural experts the plants 
flourished and Germany was ready to carry its 
experiments farther into the hinterland. 

But Tsingtau, the chief port of Kiaochow 
— already its name was being heard in the Far 
East and in Europe as a city of opportunity — 
in the first five years of its existence found 
the Chinese and Japanese, as well as Germans 
and Britishers, all flocking to share in its trade. 
Tsingtau had by now passed from a city in the 
making to a modern European municipality 
with wide macadamized streets, four and five 
storied business blocks, and large, roomy stone 
residences, each of which looked fully capable 
of surviving the ninety-nine-year German lease 
of Kiaochow. Trains rumbled into its station 
from the hinterland, and the large concrete 
quays and docks along its shores were piled 
with crates containing goods and articles manu- 
factured or raised in the district, awaiting ship- 
ment to the United States, South America, or 
Europe. 

Along the water-front one found huge, long, 
gray military warehouses, machine shops of all 
kinds, and ship foundries. Along the dock of 

160 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

the greater harbor sailors passed to and fro, 
while a giant drydock anchored just beyond, 
in which was lashed a sixteen-thousand-ton 
North-German Lloyd vessel, gave the little city 
quite a commercial setting. Chinese sampans, 
heavily loaded with crates, glided quietly along 
in the bay, passed the German gunboats litis 
and Jaguar, and occasionally one would catch 
the deep undertoned oo of a Japanese freighter 
from Nagasaki, or a British vessel from Shang- 
hai, as it signaled its entrance into the port to 
clear its goods. While Kiaochow Bay looks deep 
and trustworthy, it is, as a matter of fact, a 
great silt-choked expanse of sheltered water 
that Germany has had to dredge and make 
navigable for almost its entire extent. Its har- 
bors and docks represent years of toil and 
great expenditures by the Reichstag; but the 
investments had proved their worth, for the 
little colony was prospering hke no other settle- 
ment in the Far East. 

By 1906, Tsingtau had witnessed the com- 
pletion of its magnificent Government build- 
ings whose Imperial crested gables seemed to 
flare forth from the hillside to greet the passen- 

161 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

gers of incoming vessels. It had likewise built a 
fine naval hospital, schools for the Chinese as 
well as for the younger generation from the 
fatherland, and in fact all sides, commercial, 
economic, educational, and the religious side 
of life were all finding play-room in this Far 
Eastern city. 

But it was not until after the close of the 
Russian-Japanese War that Tsingtau became 
known as the "Brighton" of the Far East. 
In view of the wonderful climate of this little 
city, Germany was not long in looking around 
to make it not only attractive enough to induce 
settlers from the fatherland to take up their 
residence there, but also to stimulate the traffic 
of the tourist with his wealth to the port. On 
the east beach of the outer bay, just a mile and 
a half from Tsingtau, German engineers soon 
discovered a delightful stretch of sand, more 
than a mile in length and facing out on the 
Yellow Sea. At once the making of Tsingtau 
the summer resort of the Orient entered into 
their minds, and but a year afterwards the 
surrounding country had been parked, bath- 
houses erected, the commodious Strand Hotel 

162 




CHRIST CHURCH 

One of the few buildings in Tsingtau to go unscathed through the siege. A 
German Lutheran church on the outskirts of the city was all but demolished 




GENERAL BARXARDISTON AND THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY 
FORCE PASSING IN REVIEW BEFORE GENERAL KAMIO 
On the entry of the allied troops into Tsingtau, November 16, 1914. In the 
background is the Prince Heinrich Hotel, utilized by the Germans during the 
siege as an emergency hospital. The red cross painted on its roof preserved 
it from the bombs of Japanese aviators 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

built, with accommodations for three hundred 
guests, a race- track course laid out near by; 
in fact all of the advantages of some of the 
*' water-ways" in the fatherland were planted 
in the little colony. Closely following this came 
the wealthy German residents of Tsingtau, who 
built large villas, with beautiful gardens sur- 
rounding, on the heights, overlooking the 
beach. The city at once gained reputation, not 
only for great natural beauty, but for archi- 
tectural beauty as well. 

Gradually the news spread about in Far 
Eastern ports that Tsingtau was the healthiest 
city in Asia and was a delightful summer re- 
sort, with the result that the months of July, 
August, and September found American, Brit- 
ish, German, French, and Chinese residents of 
Hongkong, Shanghai, Yokohama, and other 
Eastern ports all away from their sweltering 
climates and lounging comfortably about in 
the innumerable beautiful little villas of Tsing- 
tau in its cool and delightful temperature. 
Each year saw the prestige of the colony in this 
respect rise, and soon the accommodations that 
the city could offer to guests were overtaxed. 

163 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

More hotels were built, all on German lines, 
and modern in every detail, and soon the city 
began to take on a cosmopolitan appearance. 

Along in the path of the summer resorter and 
tourist at Tsingtau came the Hindu, Chinese, 
and Japanese merchants with their bazaars, so 
familiar in Oriental ports, and gradually the 
city spread out to the top of the near-by rugged 
heights. Under German rule European ways 
-had dominated Oriental customs in Tsingtau, 
and the port had become different from any 
other harboring place in the Far East. There 
was that same clatter of the bargaining native, 
the same rattle of the passing ricksha, but the 
beautiful paved and shaded streets, the purely 
foreign aspect of the city, with Germans, Brit- 
ishers, and Americans passing down the streets, 
at once put the foreigner "at home" with the 
freedom and feeling that is rarely found by the 
newcomer in other cities of Asia. Ricksha coo- 
lies stood in an orderly row at a distance from 
the steamship gangplank as you passed down 
it, and there was none of that accustomed trip- 
ping and wrangling over passengers that is 
generally found in the Orient. The militaristic 

164 



GERJMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

sway of Germany in Asia had evidently been 
felt by even the Chinese coolie. 

For the Chinese native in Tsingtau, German 
officials had platted and fostered a model little 
hamlet called Tapatau, which is in itself a part 
of Tsingtau, but reserved for the business and 
residential purposes of the many Chinese who 
were living in the district at the time of the 
occupation. Here the same well-laid-out and 
paved streets are found. The Chinese homes 
are much more orderly kept than one sees in 
trips through other sections of the country. 
The population of Tapatau is about 30,000. 

The population of Kiaochow in 1913 was 
estimated to be 191,984, an increase of fifteen 
per cent over 167,224 given out in 1910. 
According to the census taken in Tsingtau in 
July, 1913, that city had a population of 
60,484. In 1910 the census showed 40,264. 
The classification is as follows : — 

Classification 1910 1913 

European and American 1,621 2,069 

Military 2,275 2,401 

Chinese 36,180 55,672 

Japanese 167 316 

Other Asiatics 21 26 

Total 40,264 60,484 

165 '^ 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

The nationalities represented among the 
Europeans and Americans in the city during 
the last census were: German, 1855, Russian, 
61, British, 51, Americans, 40, French, 15, 
other, 47. 

Of the economic and commercial develop- 
ment of Kiaochow, inuch must be said of the 
mining that was carried on in the district dur- 
ing the sixteen years of German occupation. 
It was due probably to the eminent German 
geologist, Dr. Richtoffen, that the attention of 
the Government officials was called to the min- 
erals of Shantung. After investigation it was 
estimated that the total amount of coal in the 
province was 10,000,000,000 tons. The organi- 
zation of the Shantung Mining Company was 
the result, with a capital of 12,000,000 marks. 
On October 1, 1901, work was started on the 
Fangtze mine and the amount of coal dug out 
yearly increased until it reached 200,000 tons 
in 1911. In 1903, the company extended its 
operations to the Hungchang mine in Poshang, 
and in 1911, with a working force of 2500 
Chinese, 375,000 tons of coal were extracted 
in the year. In spite of these resources the 

166 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

company operated at a loss of more than 
$10,000,000 and in view of the situation the 
company was annexed to the Shantung Rail- 
way Company on February 13, 1912. Besides 
coal. Shantung Province is noted for the pro- 
duction of gold, silver, iron, copper, and lead. 
Petroleum has also been discovered in Kiao- 
chow, since the Japanese occupation. 

Other industries, which were fostered among 
the Chinese by the Germans, were the straw- 
braid trade, the production of American cotton 
and tobacco, the cultivation of silk, and the 
manufacture of pongee silk and hand-made 
lace. Poultry-raising has also been another big 
industry in Kiaochow, and in 1910, 1,821,183 
dozens of eggs were exported to Russia and 
America from Tsingtau. The production of 
eggs in the province eventually led to the 
establishment of albumen factories, and in 
1911 this production reached 500,000 pounds. 

In horticultural lines the Chinese in Shan- 
tung owe much to Germany, for it was her 
officials who jBrst introduced scientific farming 
into that province. Large orchards of apple 
trees, pears, pomegranates, chestnuts, peaches 

167 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

set in rows and appearing not unlike the well- 
known fruit orchards that exist in Hood River 
and in other sections of the western United 
States, were not an uncommon sight in the 
hinterland of Kiaochow during German occu- 
pation. 

But just how Germany, with the natural 
advantage held in Kiaochow, routed the trade 
of other foreign countries, and especially the 
Japanese, from the province of Shantung, can 
probably be gleaned from a study of her ship- 
ping and export figures. In the year 1903, the 
total number of ships that entered Tsingtau 
was 277 and their aggregate tonnage reached 
285,015 tons. In exactly ten years this number 
had almost trebled with the entrance of 799 
vessels to the port with a total tonnage of 
1,201,388. In 1903, foreign imports into Kiao- 
chow amounted to 5,130,000 taels, with Chinese 
imports of 6,140,000 taels additional. In 1913, 
this had been increased to 14,700,000 and 
16,620,000 taels respectively. For the same 
period exports jumped from 230,000 taels to 
9,150,000 taels, exclusive of Chinese exports, 
which were 15,840,000 taels additional. Pea- 

168 



GERMANY IN KIAOCHOW 

nuts, which are raised on an extensive scale 
throughout Kiaochow, furnished one of the 
main items in the exports from Tsingtau, 
150,000 tons of these being exported to Europe 
in 1913. 

In its sanitation, its modern sewers, its well- 
kept streets and houses — something that the 
foreigner finds the lack of in other sections of 
the Far East — in this respect Germany has 
shown that it can be done, that civilization 
can invade the sleepy and dreamy Orient and 
be successful. Other Powers have attempted 
many of the same things in their concessions 
in the Far East that Germany did in China, 
but none have really brought the Occidental 
and his ways to Asia, as the Germans did in 
Kiaochow. 



CHAPTER XVII 

JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

The European war furnished Japan with a 
rare opportunity, if such it can be called, for 
the encouragement of her designs upon China, 
which the Island Empire has cherished for the 
last ten years. Japanese statesmen saw in the 
hostilities in Europe during the first week of 
August "the chance of a lifetime" in Asia, for 
with the attention of all the Powers turned 
toward the Atlantic it left Japan to play her 
diplomacy as she saw fit. And Japanese states- 
men were not slow in accepting the chance. 
Count Okuma, Premier of Japan, succeeded in 
throwing the United States and Great Britain 
off their guard by his messages of peace, and 
Japan *' harbors no territorial aggrandize- 
ment," and the like. And so Japan was able to 
continue her game unhindered and unnoticed 
until events had gone too far for checking. 

It may be a surprise to many to learn that 
the demands recently forced upon China by 

170 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

Japan, which took on a serious warlike form 
early last May, were not of late making; that 
is, something that originated in the minds 
at Tokyo after the surrender of Tsingtau. In 
fact the Japanese demands upon China, while 
being held in mind for years, received no defi- 
nite form until the first week in August. Japan 
at that time had received no answer from 
Great Britain as to whether her invitation to 
drive Germany from Asia would be accepted. 
But England, Germany, France, and Russia, 
all Powers interested in Asia, were at the time 
so busy, Japan seemingly could not act slowly, 
and so she decided to put in force her policy of 
the domination of China, before the other 
Powers should have a free hand to act. 

The demands upon China, which were pub- 
lished in one of the vernacular papers in Osaka, 
at once threw China into great excitement. 
By the exposure of her cards, Japan was forced 
to revamp her policy in order to quiet the sus- 
picions of Peking. Instead of playing her de- 
mands upon China first, Japan decided to 
work the cards somewhat under the veil of her 
war operations, and thus originated the Japa- 

171 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

nese violation of China's neutrality by her 
army a few weeks later. 

The first demands made upon Peking by the 
new Japanese Ambassador, Mr. Hioki, were 
six in number, according to which Japan under- 
took "to secure effectively the independence of 
the Republic of China." In the demands as pub- 
lished throughout the China press at the time, 
but which Government suppression kept from 
all but one Japanese newspaper, Japan agreed 
"to take steps to meet the emergency should 
any third nation want to disturb the peace of 
the Republic." For Japan's "kindness" in this 
matter China was to agree "not to hinder the 
movements of the Imperial Japanese Govern- 
ment, but to compensate it for its services, and 
allow it to use any strategic points necessary 
for military service." In other words, Japan 
hoped to dominate China by first getting her 
army into the Celestial Kingdom without sus- 
picion, and then, with a gun pointed at the 
head of China, would declare: "Here, you give 
us what we want or we'll blow your head off." 

But China, and the Far East outside of 
Japan, look with distrust upon Japan's ac- 

172 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

tions, a suspicion seemingly well founded on 
policies that Japanese statesmen have com- 
mitted their Government to during the last 
twenty years. And so Premier Okuma veiled 
the policy of Japan in a message to the Ameri- 
can public which, as printed in "The Inde- 
pendent" of August 24, stated: "As Premier of 
Japan, I have stated, and I now again state to 
the people of America and of the world, that 
Japan has no ulterior motive, no desire to 
secure more territory, no thought of depriving 
China or other peoples of anything which they 
possess." 

Then began the Japanese army movements 
in their strangle-hold method upon China. 
They landed their troops at Lungkow, marched 
into the hinterland, and instead of working 
toward Tsingtau, the Japanese army turned its 
back on the German garrison and marched 
westward, thus violating the neutrality of 
China. Though the latter protested vehe- 
mently, Japan went ahead and marched her 
troops still farther westward, out of the war 
zone, to Tsinan-fu, the capital of Shantung. 

The Far East now knew what the future held 
173 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

in store for China. But China, in deadly fear of 
a revolutionary uprising against the invader, 
and with the one object of saving if possible her 
people of Shantung from the horrors of war, 
declared a war zone. To this zone Japan paid 
not the least attention, but marched her troops 
about as if Shantung was in reality Japanese 
territory. It seized the Shantung railroad, a 
Chino-German private concern, the valuable 
coal mines belonging to the company, and 
committed many acts of violence and force 
upon the once peaceful Shantung communities 
which aroused the ire of not only the Chinese, 
but the British, their allies, as well. 

But all this was without effect on Japan. 
She continued to act with high-handedness. 
With the final transfer of the German gov- 
ernment, Japan placed military rule over 
Kiaochow with General Kamio as its Gov- 
ernor-General. 

Then began the unfolding of Japan's poli- 
cies, which, unless altered, will bar her in the 
future from the trusted round table of nations. 
When the question of the Tsingtau Maritime 
Customs Office arose, Japan objected to the 

174 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

policy of China in the appointment of customs 
officers, a poHcy which all the Treaty Powers 
guaranteed, and instead insisted that the offi- 
cials be appointed only from the Japanese 
Customs Department. It will be noted that 
by the peace protocol of the Boxer Rebellion 
the customs revenue of China was assigned to 
the indemnity. Kiaochow, even under German 
occupation, had never ceased to be Chinese 
territory, and as such, all its customs revenue 
went to the Peking Treasury. 

For weeks the matter was argued, China 
attempting to offset any desires of Japan for 
the impairment of her sovereign rights. But 
though China agreed to permit eight members 
of the Imperial Japanese Customs Department 
to functionate with the Chinese customs serv- 
ice at Tsingtau, Japan would have none of it, 
and finally forced the point by placing all Jap- 
anese officers in the Tsingtau Customs Office. 

Next she permitted only Japanese vessels to 
call at the Kiaochow port. Great Britain pro- 
tested, and Japan replied with one of her char- 
acteristic notes that the Bay of Kiaochow was 
still mined and that it would be dangerous to 

175 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

permit shipping to go on at the port. The de- 
mands of British commerce, however, took on 
a serious form at the London Foreign Office, 
and at length Japan decided to permit British 
vessels to call at Tsingtau. At this time of writ- 
ing the ships of other nations are still barred. 

To understand fully the actions of Japan 
during the last ten months, it is necessary to 
get a glimpse of the political situation in Tokyo 
during December. In the Diet which was in 
session that month the strongest party numeri- 
cally was the Seiyukai. It was strongly op- 
posed to the Okuma Cabinet, and with that 
Cabinet dictating the policy that Japan was 
following, it was feared that the Seiyukai, 
during the session, would attempt to cause 
the Cabinet's downfall. 

The Seiyukai especially were clamoring 
against the weakness of the foreign policy of 
the Cabinet in permitting Great Britain to 
dictate that Japan would "eventually" restore 
Kiaochow to China, and with the newspapers 
supporting them with bellicose editorials 
against the Cabinet, the Government's policy 
seemed on the verge of failure. 

176 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

The delay in bringing about the conclusion 
of the siege of Tsingtau, until three weeks be- 
fore the reassembling of the Diet in Tokyo, 
helped in a small degree to check the public 
disapproval of the Cabinet, but not until De- 
cember 9, when Baron Kato, Foreign Minis- 
ter, before an audience hissing and mutter- 
ing, announced to the world that Japan had 
never guaranteed to any nation eventually to 
restore Kiaochow to China, did the feeling 
against the Cabinet subside. I was present in 
the Diet that day and noticed that twice in 
the course of his speech. Baron Kato was 
forced to stop to warn Diet members who were 
uttering aloud insulting remarks about him. 

The statements of Baron Kato that day re- 
vealed the messages of Premier Okuma to be 
mere diplomatic chaff, covering selfish national 
ambitions. But the utterances of Baron Kato 
in the Diet were as much a surprise to the 
Japanese as to the rest of the world. The ver- 
nacular press of Tokyo came out the following 
day with editorials in which they stated that, 
while Baron Kato's statement was a complete 
revelation to them, they were glad to hear that 

177 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

the Foreign OflBce had not been committed 
to any weakened poHcy as had been supposed. 

From' that day on the opposition to the 
Okuma Cabinet commenced to dwindle, and 
throughout the next three months of cam- 
paigning the Government was able to come out 
victorious in the elections of March 26 by ap- 
pealing to the patriotism of citizens to support 
the policy of the Government. 

China and the Far East in general were now 
aware that Japan had practically decided to 
make Shantung a Japanese sphere of influence. 
The Japanese press was alive with interviews 
of prominent Japanese officials in which the 
future actions of Japan were all revealed. 

*'We must take it upon us to manage and 
develop Shantung Province, and this by no 
other power than that of commerce and in- 
dustry," said Baron Sakatani, Mayor of 
Tokyo and former Minister of Finance. It will 
be noted in the above that it is not alone Kiao- 
chow that is to be managed by Japan, but all 
of Shantung. 

"That our country has come across such a 
great opportunity is a consequence of the war 

178 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

which caused the withdrawal of European 
commerce from China," wrote Mr. Hikokichi 
Ijuin, former Japanese Ambassador to Peking, 
in the December issue of the *' Japan Financial 
Monthly." "The opportunity is indeed rare 
and will occur only once in a great while. 
Therefore we must take a step forward and 
grasp it firmly. And let us do so quickly. If we 
incur a delay here, the armed contest will cease 
and the European commercial giants will turn 
to China with redoubled force. Then the 
mighty opportunity will be lost forever." 

Mr. Ijuin apparently does not think that 
a policy as outlined by one of the Japanese 
statesmen. Premier Okuma on August 24, as to 
the future restoration of Kiaochow, is to be 
taken seriously. And then Mr. Shirani, Civil 
Administrator of Kwantung Peninsula, is 
somewhat in touch with the Government's 
hidden policy when, in December, he asks: 
" Will Kiaochow become an equally promising 
colony for our people as Formosa or Man- 
churia.^" And then he discusses the question 
at length with a negative answer. 

And thus, after the surrender of Tsingtau, 
179 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

we see the Japanese leaders of finance and 
economics all discussing the question of Shan- 
tung and Kiaochow and what Japan can do 
with it in the future to build up its empire. 

That Japan was bent upon the policy, as out- 
lined above by some of her leading government 
and commercial thinkers, was at length re- 
vealed on January 18, 1915, in the second pre- 
sentation by Japan of demands upon China. 
Those who violate the laws of man, either 
internationally or socially, generally use the 
cover of darkness for their crimes, and so it 
was with Japan in the presentation, through 
Mr. Hioki, the Japanese Ambassador at Pe- 
king, of a series of twenty-one demands, most 
preposterous in character. 

Japan, in the presentation of the demands, 
insisted that they should not be made known, 
and further stated that if China disregarded 
the warning she would be punished by much 
more drastic measures. But Japan, instead of 
presenting the demands to the Minister of For- 
eign Affairs at Peking, the usual order of things, 
took extra precautions this time, lest the world 
should learn the truth, and instead, they were 

180 



JAPAN AND HER GAME IN CHINA 

presented directly to President Yuan Slii-Kai. 
Late the same evening Mr. Hioki had an inter- 
view with the President and explained in de- 
tail the demands. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PASSING OF CHINA AS A SOVEREIGN 
NATION 

In the history of nations, there has never 
been a document presented to a sovereign 
State by another, such as the demands Japan 
presented to China on January 18, 1915. 
Guiltless of offense was China, but Japan, 
with no shadow of excuse, presented to her a 
document which has all but robbed the Celes- 
tial Kingdon of sovereignty. It was an event 
of world-wide importance, but so interested 
were the United States and the other Powers in 
the tragedies that were happening on the other 
side of the world, that Japan's death-blow to 
China and the passing of the oldest nation in 
the world is scarcely yet realized. 

And in the presentation of her demands, 
Japan unmasked before the whole world to re- 
veal herseK purely as a military nation, bound 
by no honor and guided simply by her selfish 
ambitions. I state this as a fact and with no 
unfriendliness to Japan. 

182 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

But of the Japanese ambition to dominate 
China: It is a desire not of recent invention, 
but as old as the New Japan. For years Japan 
has worked to reaHze this dream. China has 
been flooded with spies under the disguise of 
students or priests, all of whom have traveled 
the country from province to province, noting 
the military conditions and otherwise prepar- 
ing data which would prove beneficial when 
once Japan was ready to put her policy in 
force. At Hankow, in the very heart of China, 
the Tokyo Government erected a large mili- 
tary barracks with the pretext of protecting 
her concessions in that district, but with the 
intention of utilizing this strategic point as a 
base for her military operations later, if the 
domination of China required military force. 

And let the reader remember that the Japan- 
ese domination of China was fully discussed by 
the Powers at the close of the Chino-Japanese 
War in 1895. One of the demands made by 
Japan upon China at the treaty negotiations 
conducted at Shimonoseki at the conclusion of 
that war was the cession to Japan of the Liao- 
tung Peninsula, which included Port Arthur. 

183 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

When the news of the Japanese treaty de- 
mands upon China were known to the rest of 
the world, Europe especially was at fever heat. 
Russia at once assumed a hostile attitude to- 
ward Japan and rushed a fleet of seventeen 
warships to Chefoo Harbor, at the same time 
instructing China not to ratify the treaty. 
Russia in her move to check the aspirations of 
Japan was naturally supported by her ally, 
France, as well as Germany, all seeing in the 
Japanese desires the domination of China. It 
was understood then that the Power which 
controlled Port Arthur would control Peking, 
and hence it was that the three above-men- 
tioned Powers presented to Tokyo a brief com- 
munication which stated that, as the Japanese 
position on the mainland would "not only con- 
stitute a constant menace to the capital of 
China" and "jeopardize the permanent peace 
of the Far East," it was deemed important by 
these Powers, " in a spirit of cordial friendship," 
to insist that Japan "renounce the definite 
possession of the Liao-tung Peninsula." With 
all the above military talent arrayed against 
her, there was only one move open to Japan — 

184 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

the retrocession of the Liao-tung Peninsula, 
the key to Peking, and though the blow was a 
heavy one to the aspirations of Japan, she 
bowed down to humiliation, with the one 
thought that she would take her score later. 
The defeat of Russia and Germany, the two 
main Powers which took an active part in the 
ratification of the Chefoo treaty, has since 
paved the way for the Japanese control of 
Port Arthur and Peking, at the same time wip- 
ing out the humiliation that these two Powers 
forced Japan to undergo in 1895, when she was 
still an embryo military State. 

In the previous chapter it was stated that 
on the evening of January 18, 1915, Mr. 
Hioki, Japanese Ambassador to Peking, called 
upon President Yuan Shi-Kai and presented 
to him a document containing the most sweep- 
ing and drastic measures. The following, 
which is an officially verified translation of the 
identical note presented to the President of 
China by the Japanese Minister on that date, 
will best show the reader just how far the 
dream of the domination of China is outlined 
by Japan. 

185 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Geoup I. The Japanese Government and the 
Chinese Government, being desirous of maintain- 
ing the peace of Eastern Asia and of further 
strengthening the friendly relations existing be- 
tween the two neighboring nations, agree to the 
following Articles : — 

Article I. The Chinese Government agrees 
that when the Japanese Government hereafter 
approaches the German Government for the trans- 
fer of all rights and privileges of whatsoever nature 
enjoyed by Germany in the Province of Shantung, 
whether secured by Treaty or in any other manner, 
China shall give her full assent thereto. 

Article II. The Chinese Government agrees 
that within the Province of Shantung and along 
its sea border no territory or island or land of any 
name or nature shall be ceded or leased to any third 
Power. 

Article HI. The Chinese Government consents 
to Japan building a railway from Chefoo or Lung- 
chau to join the Tsinan-Kiaochow Railway. 

Article IV. The Chinese Government agrees 
that for the sake of trade and for the residence of 
foreigners certain important places shall be speedily 
opened in the Province of Shantung as treaty ports, 
such necessary places to be jointly decided upon 
by the two Governments by separate agreement. 

Group II. The Japanese Government and the 
Chinese Government, since the Chinese Govern- 
ment has always acknowledged the specially favor- 
able position enjoyed by Japan in South Man- 
churia and Eastern Inner Mongolia, agree to 
the following Articles : — 

186 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

Article I. The two contracting Powers mutu- 
ally agree that the term of lease of Port Arthur and 
Dalny and the term of lease of the South Man- 
churia and Antung-Mukden Railways shall be 
extended to the period of ninety-nine years. 

Article II. Japanese subjects in South Man- 
churia and Eastern Inner Mongolia in erecting 
buildings for the purpose of trade and manufacture 
or for farming shall have the right to lease or own 
land so required. 

Article III. Japanese subjects shall be free to 
reside and travel in South Manchuria and Eastern 
Inner Mongolia and to engage in business and in 
manufacture of any kind whatsoever. 

Article IV. The Chinese Government agrees to 
grant Japanese subjects the right of opening all 
mines in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner 
Mongolia, such mining places to be jointly decided 
upon by the two Governments. 

Article V. The Chinese Government agrees 
that in respect of the two following subjects men- 
tioned herein below the Japanese Government's 
consent shall be first obtained before action shall 
be taken : — 

(a) WTienever permission is granted to the sub- 
ject of a third Power to build a railway or make a 
loan with a third Power for the purpose of building 
a railway in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner 
Mongolia. 

(b) Whenever a loan is to be made with a third 
Power pledging the local taxes of South Manchuria 
and Eastern Inner Mongolia as security. 

Article VI. The Chinese Government agrees 

187 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

that if the Chinese Government in South Man- 
churia or Eastern Inner Mongolia employs advisers 
or instructors for political, financial, or military 
purposes the Japanese shall first be consulted. 

Article VII. The Chinese Government agrees 
that the control and administration of the Kirin- 
Changchau Railway shall be handed over to the 
Japanese Government to take effect on the signing 
of this agreement, the term to last for ninety-nine 
years. 

Group III. The Japanese Government and the 
Chinese Government, seeing that Japanese finan- 
ciers and the Hanyehping Company have close 
relations with each other at present, and also desir- 
ing that the common interests of the two nations 
shall be advanced, agree to the following Articles : 

Article I. The two contracting Powers mutu- 
ally agree that when the opportune moment arrives 
the Hanyehping Company shall be made a joint 
concern of the two nations and they further agree 
that without the previous consent of Japan, China 
shall not by her own act dispose of the rights and 
property of whatsoever nature of the Hanyehping 
Company, nor cause the said Company to dispose 
freely of the same. 

Article II. The Chinese Government agrees 
that all mines in the neighborhood of those owned 
by ; the Hanyehping Company shall not be per- 
mitted without the consent of the said Company, 
to be worked by other persons outside of the said 
Company, and further agrees that if it is desired to 
carry out any undertaking which it is apprehended 
may directly or indirectly affect the interests of the 

188 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

said Company the consent of the said Company 
shall first be obtained. 

Group IV. The Japanese Government and the 
Chinese Government with the object of effectively 
protecting the territorial integrity of China agree 
to the following special Article : — 

The Chinese Government agrees that no island, 
port, and harbor along the coast shall be ceded or 
leased to any third Power. 

Group V. Article I. The Chinese Central 
Government shall employ influential Japanese as 
advisers in political, financial, and military affairs. 

Article II. In the interior of China, Japanese 
shall have the right to ownership of land for the 
building of Japanese hospitals, churches, and 
schools. 

Article III. Since the Japanese Government 
and the Chinese Government have had many cases 
of dispute between the Japanese and Chinese police 
to settle, cases which cause no inconsiderable mis- 
understanding, it is for this reason necessary that 
the police departments of important places (in 
China) shall be jointly administered (by Japanese 
and Chinese) or that the (Chinese) police depart- 
ment of these places shall employ numerous Japa- 
nese for the purpose of organizing and improving 
the Chinese police service. 

Article IV. China shall purchase from Japan a 
fixed ratio of the quantity of munitions of war (say 
fifty per cent or more) , or Japan shall establish in 
China a jointly worked arsenal, Japanese technical 
experts to be employed and Japanese material to 
be purchased. 

189 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Article V. China agrees to grant to Japan the 
right of constructing a railway connecting Wu- 
chang with Kiu-kiang and Nan-chang. Also a line 
between Nan-chang and Hang-chow, and a line 
between Nan-chang and Chao-chow. 

Article VI. China agrees that in the Province 
of Fu-kien Japan shall have the right to work mines 
and build railways and to construct harbor works 
(including dockyards), and in case of employing 
foreign capital Japan shall be first consulted. 

Article VII. China agrees that Japanese sub- 
jects shall have the right to propagate religious 
doctrines in China. 

While Japan had desired not to make the 
note of demands public, and had warned China 
that dire results would follow if she made 
known to outsiders the negotiations, reports of 
the demands, in some way or other, as such acts 
of secrecy do, gradually crept out, and in a 
short time they were known to the whole world. 

So drastic were the Japanese demands, once 
they became known abroad, the Powers com- 
menced to dispatch official inquiries to the 
Tokyo Government, which in turn sent back 
the following interpretation of the demands. 
The reader is asked kindly to compare the 
copy of the original Japanese demands with 
the seemingly little trivial communique that 

190 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

was dispatched by the Japanese Government 
to the Powers and which was as follows : — 

I. In relation to the Province of Shantung: — 

1. Engagement on the part of China to consent 
to all matters that may be agreed upon between 
Japan and Germany with regard to the disposition 
of all rights, interests, concessions which, in virtue 
of treaties or otherwise, Germany possesses in 
relation to the Province of Shantung. 

2. Engagement not to alienate or lease upon any 
pretext the Province of Shantung, or any portion 
thereof, or any island lying near the coast of the 
said province. 

3. Grant to Japan the right of construction of a 
railway connecting Chefoo or Lungkow and the 
Tsinan-Kiaochow Railway. 

II. In relation to South Manchuria and Eastern 
Inner Mongolia : — 

1. Extension of the terms of the lease of Kwang- 
tung, the South Manchuria and the Antung- 
Mukden Railway. 

2. (a) Acquisition by the Japanese of the right 
of residence and ownership of land. (6) Grant to 
Japan of the mining rights of the mines specified by 
Japan. 

3. Obligation on the part of China to obtain in 
advance the consent of Japan before she grants 
railway concessions to any third Power, procures 
the supply of capital from any Power for the con- 
struction of a railway, or raises from any third 
Power a loan on security of any duties or taxes. 

4. Obligation on the part of China to consult 

191 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Japan before employing advisers or tutors regard- 
ing political, financial, or military matters. 

5. Transfer of the management and control of 
the Kirin-Changchau Railway to Japan. 

III. Agreement in principle that at an opportune 
moment in the future the Hanyehping Company 
shall be placed under Japanese and Chinese 
cooperation. 

IV. Engagement, in accordance with the princi- 
ple of maintenance of the territorial integrity of 
China, not to alienate or lease any ports or bays on, 
or any island near, the coast of China. 

In other words, Japan, when pressed by the 
United States and the other Powers as to her 
intentions in China, stated that the demands 
then under negotiation were ten in number and 
that the other eleven so-called demands, of 
which the Powers had received reports, were 
not demands at all, but only requests. The 
actions of the Japanese Government during 
the following negotiations at Peking proved 
the above statement, relative to the eleven 
"requests," not to be true. 

But with all the publicity that had been 
thrown upon the twenty-one demands, Japan 
continued to press the negotiations, threaten- 
ing China with force if she did not agree to 

192 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

them. The question at length dragged into 
the month of April with more than twenty-five 
meetings of the Japanese Ambassador and the 
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

Great Britain by this time was stirred up 
over the matter, and especially in the indus- 
trial cities, such as Manchester, were the 
Peking negotiations invested with tremendous 
importance. Likewise did the commercial 
interests of Great Britain, having an invest- 
ment in the Yangtze Valley and other sections 
of more than 400,000,000 pounds sterling, in- 
quire into the Japanese demands upon Peking. 
The British Parliament was constantly re- 
minded by questions of its members that the 
people should be told exactly what was hap- 
pening in the Far East. In reply to these ques- 
tions Premier Asquith told of the messages 
that had been forwarded to him from Tokyo, 
all of which were very meager and did not 
touch at all the demands that Japan was at- 
tempting to force China to accede to. Nor in 
his parliamentary addresses did Premier As- 
quith refer to the note of alarm which the 
British and Russian Ambassadors at Tokyo 

193 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

had presented to Baron Kato, the Japanese 
Foreign Minister, the latter part of March. 

The note presented to the Tokyo Govern- 
ment by the representatives of the two Powers 
informed the Japanese Foreign Minister that, 
"If Japan persists in pressing its demands on 
China beyond those contained in the original 
communication to the Powers, it will be diffi- 
cult for Japan's allies to negotiate diplomati- 
cally with her in the future." 

It was not until the last week in April, how- 
ever, that anything definite was realized by 
Japan relative to her demands upon Peking. 
During that period China had agreed to the 
first paragraph of Article I of the demands, but 
still held back on the others of that clause. 
As South Manchuria has been a part of the 
Japanese nation in all but name for the last ten 
years, China practically conceded all of Group 
II to Japan. 

As to the other groups of the demands China 
refused to listen, and no form of parleying by 
Mr. Hioki would seemingly move Peking from 
its viewpoint. Mr. Hioki then resorted to 
stratagems, to make China appear technically 
194 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

wrong on several points. In this way a pre- 
text could be raised for requiring China by 
force to accede to all of the demands. 

On this point China held ground, realizing 
that with her sovereignty threatened, she 
could ill afford to play a foolish role in the 
matter. And with the matter thus deadlocked, 
with the negotiations practically at a stand- 
still, Japan found herself in a serious position. 

The negotiations were daily getting more 
publicity, something that Japan had tried to 
guard against; truth was constantly finding 
the light and forcing Japan into a backward 
position. In order not to alarm the Powers and 
to reveal the diplomacy that she had been 
practicing, Japan found only one course open. 
That was to continue to keep secret the docu- 
ments that would reveal the whole truth of 
the Peking negotiations, at the same time 
distributing throughout the world her own 
description of the matter — a description na- 
turally favorable to Japan. 

In the mean time British commercial agents 
in China had been forwarding to London re- 
ports of the negotiations as gathered at Peking. 

195 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Especially did the demands under Group III 
and V receive their condemnation. It will be 
noted that these demands, the most drastic of 
the twenty-one, were the ones that Japan had 
taken special pains to see were not included in 
her official report of the matter to the Powers. 

Now the district about Hankow, where are 
located the Hanyehping mines, being one of 
the wealthiest mineral districts in the world, 
and possessing iron as well as coal and lime 
pockets, all the ingredients in the making of 
iron and steel, Japan realized that it was of 
great importance that she should take control 
of this mining concession if she was to have the 
steel for military equipment which is highly 
essential if she is to become one of the domi- 
nating Powers of the world. And Japan at 
present, having to import more than seventy- 
five per cent of the iron and steel she uses, 
looked upon the Hanyehping mines as a ne- 
cessity. 

That the reader may better understand the 
Japanese demands made upon China embodied 
in Group V of the twenty -one demands, I ask 
that he imagine Mexico a civilized Power — 

196 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

that is, where military matters are concerned; 
that he imagine the United States, not as the 
Power that she is, but just a big nation, teem- 
ing with people, peaceful in their pursuits, and 
attempting gradually to rise from a form of 
semi-civilization to that of a nation of unlim- 
ited possibilities. 

Then some fine day, out of a clear sky, while 
the United States is busy toiling, imagine 
Mexico suddenly hurling at our country a note 
in which she asks of the United States: That 
it appoint Mexican advisers in political and 
financial affairs as well as in all military mat- 
ters; that the United States employ Mexican 
policemen in its departments in New York 
City, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, and 
the other large centers of its country for the 
purpose of organizing and improving the police 
service of the country; that the United States 
buy fifty per cent of her munitions of war from 
Mexico, or that there be established an arsenal 
jointly worked by both nations, Mexican tech- 
nical experts to be employed and the material 
to be purchased likewise from Mexico ; — in 
other words, that Mexico should have complete 

197 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

control of the military affairs of the United 
States. 

If such a thing came about in the United 
States, would it be considered an action tend- 
ing toward the *' peace of North America"? 
Yet this is exactly what Japan has attempted 
to foist upon China. 

It is not to be wondered at that China re- 
fused to consider the demands that deprived 
her absolutely of sovereignty. Japan, realiz- 
ing that she excelled China in perseverance, 
still hung to her point, hoping the latter would 
weaken. 

But China held, and as publicity on the 
negotiations was constantly gaining headway 
abroad, Japan slackened her course with the 
following set of modified demands delivered at 
Peking on April 26 : — 

Group I. The Japanese Government and the 
Chinese Government, being desirous of maintain- 
ing the peace of Eastern Asia and of further 
strengthening the friendly relations existing be- 
tween the two neighboring nations, agree to the 
following Articles : — 

Article I. The Chinese Government agrees 
that when the Japanese Government hereafter ap- 

198 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

preaches the German Government for the transfer 
of all rights and privileges of whatsoever nature 
enjoyed by Germany in the Province of Shantung, 
whether secured by treaty or in any other manner, 
China shall give her full assent thereto. 

Article II. The Chinese Government engages 
that within the Province of Shantung and along its 
sea border no territory or island or land of any 
name or nature shall be ceded or leased to any third 
Power. 

Article III. The Chinese Government consents 
that as regards the railways to be built by China 
herself from Chefoo or Lung-chau to connect with 
the Tsinan-Kiaochow Railway, if Germany is will- 
ing to abandon the privilege of financing the said 
lines, China will approach Japanese capitalists to 
negotiate for a loan. 

Article IV. The Chinese Government engages, 
in the interest of trade and for the residence of for- 
eigners, to open by herself as soon as possible cer- 
tain suitable places in the Province of Shantung, 
as commercial ports. 

The Following to be the Subject of an 
Exchange of Notes 

The places which ought to be opened are to be 
chosen and the regulations to be drafted by the 
Chinese Government, but the Japanese Minister 
must be consulted before making a decision. 

Group II. The Chinese Government and the 
Japanese Government, with a view to developing 
their economic relations in South Manchuria and 

199 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

Eastern Inner Mongolia, agree on the following 
Articles : — 

Article I. The two contracting Powers mutu- 
ally agree that the term of lease of Port Arthur and 
Dalny and the term of lease of the South Man- 
churia and Antung-Mukden Railways shall be ex- 
tended to the period of ninety-nine years. 

Article II. Japanese subjects in South Man- 
churia may lease or purchase necessary land for 
erecting suitable buildings for trade and manufac- 
ture or for prosecuting agricultural enterprises. 

Article III. Japanese subjects shall be free to 
reside and travel in South Manchuria and to en- 
gage in business and in manufacture of any kind 
whatsoever. 

The Japanese subjects referred to in the preced- 
ing two articles besides being required to register 
with local authorities passports, which they must 
procure under the existing regulations, shall also 
observe police laws and ordinances and tax regula- 
tions which are approved by the Japanese Consul. 

Civil and criminal cases in which the defendants 
are Japanese shall be tried and adjudicated by the 
Japanese Consul ; those in which the defendants are 
Chinese shall be tried and adjudicated by Chinese 
authorities. In either instance the authorities on 
the plaintiff side can send a delegate to attend the 
proceedings; but mixed civil cases between Chinese 
and Japanese relating to land shall be tried and 
adjudicated by the delegates of both nations con- 
jointly in accordance with Chinese law and local 
usage. When the judicial period in the said region 
is completely reformed, all the civil and criminal 

200 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

cases concerning Japanese subjects shall be tried 
entirely by Chinese law courts. 

Articles IV, V, VI, VII, "initialed" as in previ- 
ous demands. 



Relating to Eastern Inner Mongolia 

1. The Chinese Government agrees that when- 
ever a loan is to be made with a third Power, pledg- 
ing the local taxes of Eastern Inner Mongolia as 
security, China must negotiate with the Japanese 
Government first. 

2. The Chinese Government agrees that China 
will herself provide funds for building the railways 
in Eastern Inner Mongolia; if foreign capital is 
required she must negotiate with the Japanese 
Government first. 

3. The Chinese Government agrees, in the inter- 
ests of trade and the residence of foreigners, to 
open by herself as soon as possible certain suitable 
places in Eastern Inner Mongolia as commercial 
ports. The places which ought to be opened are to 
be chosen and the regulations to be drafted by the 
Chinese Government, but the Japanese Minister 
must be consulted before reaching a decision. 

4. If there are Japanese and Chinese who desire 
to cooperate in agricultural enterprises, including 
incidental manufacture, the Chinese Government 
shall forthwith give its permission. 

Group III. The relations between Japan and 
the Hanyehping Company being very intimate, if 
the said Company comes to an agreement with the 
Japanese capitalists for cooperation, the Chinese 

201 



:the fall of tsingtau 

Government shall forthwith give its consent 
thereto. The Chinese Government further agrees 
that without the consent of the Japanese capitalists, 
China will not convert the company into a State 
enterprise, nor confiscate it nor cause it to borrow 
and use foreign capital other than Japanese. 

Group IV. China to make a declaration by her- 
self in accordance with the following principle : No 
part of China's coast, bays, harbors, or islands shall 
be ceded or leased to another Power. 

Group V. Yangtze Railways — to be confirmed 
by exchange of notes. 

A. As regards the right of financing by loan the 
Wu-chang-Kiu-kiang-Nan-chang Railways, the 
Nan-chang-Hang-chau Railway, and the Nan- 
chang-Chao-chau Railway, if it is clearly ascer- 
tained that other Powers have no objection China 
shall grant the said right to Japan. 

B. As regards the right of financing by loan 
the Wu-chang-Kiu-kang-Nan-chang Railways, the 
Nan-chang-Hang-chau Railway, and the Nan- 
chang-Chao-chau Railway, the Chinese Govern- 
ment shall promise not to grant the said right to 
any foreign Power before Japan comes to an under- 
standing with the Power which is heretofore inter- 
ested therein. 

Fu-KlEN 

(By exchange of notes.) 

The Chinese Government agrees that no Power 
shall be permitted to establish along the coast of 
Fu-kien dockyards, a coaling station for military 
use, or a naval base; nor will any other installations 

202 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

for military purposes be permitted. The Chinese 
Government further agrees that China will not use 
foreign capital to put up by herself the above- 
mentioned establishments or installations. 

The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs stated 
as follows: — 

1. The Chinese Government shall, whenever in 
future it considers this step necessary, engage 
numerous Japanese advisers. 

2. Whenever in future Japanese subjects desire 
to lease or purchase land in the interior of China for 
establishing schools or hospitals, the Chinese Gov- 
ernment shall forthwith give its consent thereto. 

3. When a suitable opportunity arises in the fu- 
ture, the Chinese Government will send military 
officers to Japan to negotiate with Japanese mili- 
tary authorities the matter of purchasing arms or 
that of establishing joint arsenals. 

Mr. Hioki, the Japanese Ambassador, stated as 
follows: — 

As related to the question of propagating religion 
(Buddhism) the same shall be taken up again for 
negotiation in the future. 

The modified demands, while eliminating 
many of the drastic measures of the preceding 
document, still humiliated China by infringing 
upon her national rights and sovereignty. 
While Mr. Hioki had intimated to Peking 
in the presentation of the new document that 
an answer would be expected at once, China 

203 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

refused to be coerced, and the first meeting ad- 
journed in less than an hour with the question 
appearing very critical — at least for China. 

Further discussions were held on the de- 
mands during the week, but nothing definite 
was decided upon until May 1, when China 
replied to the modified document in the form of 
a counter-proposal, which it declared to be its 
final offer. In this proposal China recognized 
Japanese rights of residence, of carrying on 
business or leasing land in the unopened dis- 
tricts of Manchuria, but refused absolutely to 
make long leases, and demanded that the Jap- 
anese should submit themselves to the Chinese 
police, pay the same taxes as the Chinese, like- 
wise submitting all land disputes to the Chinese 
officials. At the same time the counter-pro- 
posal demanded the unconditional retrocession 
of Kiaochow and the participation of the Pe- 
king Government in the peace negotiations be- 
tween Germany and Japan. Further, China 
intimated that this counter-proposal was her 
final word on the demands. 

Japan, more than gratified with what she 
had already received from China as to the de- 

204 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

mands, but eager for more, then assumed a 
more peaceful attitude on the matter, and wish- 
ing to avoid further complications decided to 
separate Group V from the original demands, 
but specified in her note that the demands so 
dropped should be left over for "future dis- 
cussion." In this, Japan made it known that 
she expected at some future date to fulfill at 
every point her ambition to dominate the 
Celestial Kingdom. _ 

On May 6, instructions were forwarded from 
Tokyo to Peking, asking the Japanese Ambas- 
sador to inform the Chinese Government that a 
reply to the Japanese note was desired at once. 

While the above was under way, things were 
taking on a more serious aspect at Tokyo. 
Fearing that China would checkmate the am- 
bitions of Japan, the latter decided to prepare 
for a coup and to win her desires, if necessary, by 
force. General Oka, Minister for War, at once 
conferred with General Akashi, Vice-Chief of 
the General Staff, and in a few hours Japan 
was mobilizing its war fleet as well as troops, in 
preparation for an invasion of China. The 
Thirteenth Division and the South Manchu- 

205 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

rian Guards at Mukden and Liaoyang immedi- 
ately took on war preparations for contending 
with the Chinese Twenty-Seventh and Twenty- 
Eighth Divisions, while in Shantung the ad- 
vance guard of the Japanese troops in Kiao- 
chow moved to Weicheng, confronting the 
Chinese Fifth Division. The Japanese cruisers 
Suwo and Sagami, which had been lying in 
Chinhai Bay, Korea, were given orders for full 
speed ahead to the GuK of Chihli, there to pick 
up the Japanese Ambassador and to bring 
him safely back to Japan. Likewise did the 
first, second, and third Japanese squadrons 
begin coaling at Sascho and Kure. 

War seemed inevitable to Japan. To China 
the question was different, for being in no 
position to contend against Japan, she real- 
ized that if war came about, it would require 
scarcely two days for Japan to take China. 

However, as to Japan's note. President 
Yuan Shi-Kai found the opinion of his Presi- 
dential Board divided. The discussion was 
heated, and no conclusion was reached, with 
the result that on Friday, May 7, there was 
received in Peking an ultimatum from Tokyo 

206 



THE PASSING OF CHINA 

in which China was given forty-eight hours to 
accede to the demands or serious action would 
be taken. 

With Japanese troops secretly moving about 
China on a war footing, with Japanese resi- 
dents at Hankow, Mukden, and other cen- 
ters, packing their belongings and preparing 
to move to the seacoast, Peking could do but 
one thing — hope for the intervention of some 
other Power. That help not arriving, China 
was forced to agree to the Japanese demands, 
and at half-past 1 o'clock on the morning of 
Sunday, May 9, China, the oldest nation in 
the world, passed under the virtual domina- 
tion of Japan. I 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE RESTORATION OF KIAOCHOW 

Of the siege of Tsingtau and the events that 
followed its surrender, but one more question 
remains. That is in regard to the final restora- 
tion of the once German protectorate. 

Regardless of the inconsistent statements of 
Count Okuma on August 24, 1914, relative to 
eventual restoration, and that of Baron Kato 
on December 8, 1914, in the Diet House at 
Tokyo, alluded to in a previous chapter, Kiao- 
chow and the Chinese Province of Shantung 
will probably become a Japanese sphere of in- 
fluence after the close of Japanese peace nego- 
tiations with Germany. 

In presenting her modified demands of April 
26 at Peking, Japan stated that as the seizure 
of Kiaochow had forced her to make a heavy 
sacrifice, in both men and money, the latter 
was wilHng to restore the once German protec- 
torate to China, providing the Peking Govern- 
ment would in turn agree that: — 

208 



RESTORATION OF KIAOCHOW 

(1) Kiaochow Bay shall be opened as a commer- 
cial port. 

(2) A settlement for exclusive Japanese use shall 
be created in Tsingtau at a place to be indi- 
cated by Japan. 

(3) If the Powers so desire, a foreign settlement 
shall be established in Tsingtau. 

(4) The disposal of German structures and prop- 
erties shall be arranged between Japan and 
Germany, China taking no part in the 
negotiations. 

In the last clause enumerated above, Japan 
has made preparation for the final restoration 
of Kiaochow — in name only — to China. 
When the peace negotiations between Ger- 
many and Japan are brought up for discussion, 
Japan intends evidently to hold to her con- 
tention that the Shantung railroad is a Berlin 
Government concern, and not a Chinese-Ger- 
man private property, as the Peking Govern- 
ment knows it to be. China having no voice 
in the peace negotiations, and with Germany 
in no position to dispute Japan's claim, the 
Shantung railroad will pass into the hands of 
the Nipponese Government. With this conces- 
sion will also go the right to station Japanese 
troops along the railroad right of way to pro- 

209 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

tect the property, and gradually the Province 
of Shantung will pass from Chinese or German 
influence to Japanese influence. Shantung will 
follow exactly in the footsteps of Manchuria 
and under the Japanese system of freight re- 
bates for Japanese shippers, such as has been 
practiced in Manchuria, Kiaochow, the birth- 
place of the Chinese nation, the home of the 
Celestial philosopher, Confucius, will have be- 
come a part of the working Empire of Japan. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ENIGMA AMONG NATIONS 

Recent dispatches from Peking, disclosing 
the probabiHty that President Yuan Shi-Kai 
will do away with the republican form of gov- 
ernment and proclaim himself Emperor, have 
again brought to the front the question of the 
future of China. In Washington, the disap- 
pearance of the new Far Eastern Republic 
would be viewed with regret, for it was hoped 
that it would be the forerunner of other re- 
publics in Asia. 

However, those who seek for the reasons for 
China's instability and inability to grasp in a 
big sense the liberal ideas of the present cen- 
tury, will find that upon the Powers, as agents 
of civilization, does much of the responsibility 
lie. China has been not unlike an old and heir- 
less millionaire, who becoming unconscious 
suddenly awakes on his sick-bed to find him- 
self beset on all sides by supposed relatives, 
who, under the guise of administering to his 

211 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

wants, have made arrangements for the signing 
of his will and his burial. Too much attention 
to the division of China's wealth and too little 
attention to her wants, her needs, — that is 
the main reason for the conditions in China 
to-day. 

It is but a little more than fifty years since 
trade agents, seeking for new fields and new 
markets, discovered the Celestial Kingdom 
basking in a civilization centuries old. When 
the Western Nations learned of that ancient 
empire in the East, of its vast territory, of its 
mountains and their apparently inexhaustible 
supplies of minerals, there was a rush to the 
El Dorado of the Far East. The Powers first 
drugged China with opium, and then bit by bit 
they leased, stole, or reserved for themselves 
the best of the country. 

In vain did China seek to comprehend this 
so-called civilization of the Occident. By 1897, 
when the Germans sailed into the Bay of Kiao- 
chow and to the salute of twenty-one guns 
proclaimed the territory part of the Kaiser's 
domain, the Chinese were seething with revolt 
against the "foreign devils" who violated 

212 



THE ENIGMA AMONG NATIONS 

every right and who paid no attention to their 
ancestral worship or any of their customs. 

The Boxer Rebellion and the siege of Peking 
are now an old story. It was the ancient 
China's last cry against extinction as a sover- 
eign people. 

With the end of that revolt, China awakened, 
opened her eyes, but still reposed on the couch 
of the immemorial civilization of her fore- 
fathers. It was apparent that one more shak- 
ing of the land was needed to arouse her into 
action. When the Manchu dynasty was over- 
thrown in the revolution of 1911 and the mon- 
archical form of government had been replaced 
by that of a republic, the European Powers 
chafed in their greediness and deceit, fearful 
lest China, with its four hundred and fifty mil- 
lions of people, might get the new government 
into working order, before they could strip her 
of her riches. 

The European Powers have been busy keep- 
ing wars and revolutions in motion on Chinese 
soil, hoping that China could not find herself. 
The turmoil in China since the breaking-out of 
the European war, and the recent twenty-one 

213 



THE FALL OF TSINGTAU 

demands of Japan upon Peking, are but sam- 
ples of how "friendly" Powers take advantage 
of the weakness of the New China. Is it to be 
wondered at, then, that the land of the pagoda, 
in an attempt to regain the peace and pros- 
perity of its former days, and to do away with 
the harassing of the Powers, should again turn 
to an Emperor and an imperial form of govern- 
ment? 

One fact, however, stands clearly out in the 
situation of China to-day. It has reversed the 
experience of history. Other great nations, 
once they have reached the apex of their civili- 
zation, have deteriorated and at length have 
been all but swallowed up in the uprush of 
other nations. Persia, Athens, Rome, Spain, 
and Holland are examples of this. 

Centuries ago the civilization of China ap- 
parently reached its apex, but the nation, in- 
stead of deteriorating, remained at a standstill, 
and there it has lived and continues to live. 
To-day we see the New China, attempting to 
walk, wearing the mantle of a more youthful 
civilization. To be sure, its step is wobbly, but 
gains strength day by day. Its finances are in 

214 



THE ENIGMA AMONG NATIONS 

better shape than they have ever been in the 
past fifty years. Patriotism, or national con- 
sciousness, something which China has lacked 
for centuries, is awakening, and to-day we see 
the people united in boycotting a neighboring 
nation that has heaped insult and humiliation 
upon them. 

China is the enigma of history. 



THE END 



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